West Coast Port, trade groups urge President Obama, Congress to intervene in longshore ILWU labor talks

West Coast Port, trade groups urge President Obama, Congress to intervene in longshore ILWU labor talks
Port, trade groups urge President Obama, Congress to intervene in longshore labor talks
http://www.presstelegram.com/business/20141223/port-trade-groups-urge-pr...
By Karen Robes Meeks, Long Beach Press Telegram
POSTED: 12/23/14, 6:34 PM PST |0 COMMENTS
West Coast port officials and dozens of trade associations sent letters Tuesday to President Barack Obama and congressional leaders, urging them to intervene in what has become contentious talks between the union, which represents about 20,000 West Coast dockworkers, and their employers.

More than 160 national, state and local trade groups, ranging from the Agricultural Retailer Associationto Women in International Trade Los Angeles, have asked the president and Congress for federal mediation to help clinch an agreement between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore & Warehouse Union, which includes dockworkers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

“While there are many reasons for the congestion beyond labor slowdowns, industry cannot begin to develop solutions until a new contract is finally resolved,” according to the joint letter sent Tuesday. “We are extremely concerned the negotiations will now slip into 2015 and continue to cause problems for all industries that rely on the ports.”

The Pacific Maritime Association, which represents employers at 29 West Coast ports, said Monday thatit would seek an outside party to guide talks with the union after seven months of unsuccessful negotiations. The last contract expired in July.

PMA spokesman Wade Gates said Monday that both parties “remain far apart on many issues” and that the slowdowns allegedly driven by the union prompted the request.

“We began negotiations seven months ago by underscoring everyone’s concerns about the West Coast loss of market share, which directly impacts local jobs and economies,” Gates said in a statement. “We emphasized our commitment to good-faith bargaining and the importance of ensuring that there were no disruptions or other actions that would cause shippers to lose confidence in the future of our ports. Unfortunately, the ILWU’s slowdowns are causing those concerns to grow, and it is clear we need outside intervention to allow us to reach consensus on the issues between us.”

On Tuesday, the U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service announced that it will “promptly reach out” to both sides to see if and when mediation help would be “most valuable.”

Asked about including a possible federal mediator, ILWU spokesman Craig Merrilees said the union was reviewing “many proposals” and added that the union would not likely release a statement this week.

White House officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

In the first few months of talks, both sides appeared to be making progress, issuing joint statements which promised no business disruptions during negotiations. In August, they tentatively agreed on health care benefits, a critical element of their contract talks.

But relations turned contentious in November after PMA accused the union of slowdowns at ports in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma. They claimed that longshore workers were working at half-speed at some ports and not sending qualified ILWU crane operators who could place containers on trucks and trains at other ports.

The ILWU has denied PMA’s allegations and accused PMA of blaming the union when other factors have contributed to the congestion at ports that has resulted in container ships at anchor waiting to dock and retailers diverting cargo away from West Coast ports to bypass bottlenecks.

Leaders at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, the nation’s busiest seaports handling 40 percent of U.S. imports, have been asking for swift resolution as well.

The Port of Los Angeles, and specifically its Executive Director Gene Seroka, are in favor of federal mediation, port spokesman Phillip Sanfield said, adding that Seroka has been talking at trade events for the last three weeks about “the need for federal mediation and/or White House intervention to help both sides reach agreement.”

In their letters to the president and Congress, Port of Seattle CEO Theodore J. Fick and Port of Tacoma CEO John Wolfe said that an expected agreement by Christmas looked “highly unlikely” and detailed how the lack of a resolution has affected business, resulting in layoffs, lost potential export business and agricultural products “literally rotting” on the docks.

“This uncertainty and delay is unacceptable,” they wrote. “We hope that mediation assistance from the federal government will help both parties find a fair and equitable resolution to the negotiations as soon as possible, to get Americans back to work and allow commerce to move efficiently.”

Contact Karen Robes Meeks at 562-714-2088.