San Francisco.- The union of thousands of West Coast dockworkers has reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, it was announced Wednesday, after more than a year of negotiations and several work stoppages that disrupted shipping traffic at some of the ports bigger.
The International Longshoremen and Warehousemen Union has reached a tentative agreement for a new six-year contract with the Pacific Maritime Association, a trade group for cargo carriers and terminal operators. Its members include global shipping giants such as Maersk and Evergreen Marine.
The agreement will require ratification by the PMA and union members and would affect 22,000 longshore workers at 29 ports from Washington state to California.
The Port of Oakland closed Friday morning due to a lack of sufficient manpower, and operations in Los Angeles, including Fenix Marine, the APL terminal and the Port of Hueneme, were also reported to close.
Details of the deal were not disclosed.
“We are pleased to have reached an agreement that recognizes the heroic efforts and personal sacrifices of the ILWU workforce to keep our ports running,” PMA President James McKenna and ILWU President Willie Adams said in a statement. a joint statement.
“We are also pleased to return our full attention to the operation of the West Coast ports.”
The dockers had been without a contract since July 1.
West Coast ports handle around 40% of US imports, and their smooth operation is so important that President Joe Biden even stepped in last year, meeting with both parties in Los Angeles.
The Port of Los Angeles handled 779,140 twenty-foot equivalent units last month, up 60% from February. The Port of Long Beach in May was the busiest month so far this year, indicating that volumes continue to increase.
The global health crisis altered the arrival of some products that would reach homes or store shelves, but the eye of the hurricane passed through the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.
Some of that influx is shipments tied to the upcoming holiday season that have already started arriving, adding to the pressure to come up with a new labor deal.
“At the middle of the year, we began to see signs that cargo volumes are picking up, with our busiest month since August of last year,” Port of Long Beach CEO Mario Cordero said this week. “We expect more positive signs in the coming months.”
A lockout in 2002 and an eight-day strike in 2015 cost the US economy billions of dollars and forced the administrations of then-Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama to intervene.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to observe the progress being made to streamline the supply chain problem.
The ports were not completely closed this time, but short-term worker shortages in recent weeks have disrupted or even closed some terminals in California and Washington.
“Although there have been a couple of terminal closures in Los Angeles/Long Beach over the holidays, the outages do not appear to have a significant impact so far. However, the situation at the smaller port of Seattle has been more worrisome, resulting in terminal closures and more significant delays in recent days,” Christian Wetherbee of Citi Investment Research said in a note to clients.
After the COVID-19 pandemic began to take hold in 2020, cargo traffic to ports plummeted dramatically. But then he recovered. Rising demand has caused traffic jams at the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the busiest port complex in the country.
The crisis at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is turning from a maritime problem to a traffic conflict, as residents say they can’t stand the traffic jams right in front of their houses anymore.
The union sought higher wages, arguing they deserved a bigger share of the record profits made by carriers and terminal operators during the pandemic.
“ILWU workers risked and lost their lives during the pandemic to ensure grocery store shelves were stocked, PPE (sanitary safety equipment) was available, essential medical supplies were reaching our hospitals, and record volumes of consumer goods will continue to arrive at the doorsteps of American consumers,” argued an ILWU statement on June 2.
In his statement, Biden congratulated longshore workers, “who have served heroically during the pandemic and the myriad challenges it has brought, and will finally get the pay, benefits, and quality of life they deserve.”
Los Angeles Port Authority, along with Council Member Joe Buscaino, unveiled a plaque to celebrate the completion of phase one of the Town Square and Promenade project in San Pedro.
Acting US Secretary of Labor Julie Su was sent in to help with the negotiations.
Biden said his administration “used his deep experience and judgment to keep the parties talking.”
“The tentative agreement provides important stability for our country’s workers, employers and supply chain,” Su said in a statement.
The tentative agreement was praised by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who said dock work generates 1 in 15 jobs in the city.
“This is a victory for the workers of our city,” he said.
