PMA to begin calling out fewer night workers at LA-Long Beach

PMA to begin calling out fewer night workers at LA-Long Beach
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#safe=active&q=PMA+to+begin+calling+ou...
Bill Mongelluzzo, Senior Editor | Jan 02, 2015 5:43PM EST

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association enter the weekend engaged at a standoff at Los Angeles-Long Beach as employers plan to reduce the number of longshore crews that will be assigned to work vessels on the night shifts while the union continues to short terminals on skilled equipment operators in the container yards.

Adan Ortega, spokesman for ILWU Local 13 in Southern California, said 800 dockworkers were set to report to the hiring hall at 4:30 p.m. Pacific time on Friday. The ILWU also invited U.S. Rep. Janice Hahn and California Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnel to the hiring hall to observe the dispatch for the night shift.

The PMA on Wednesday notified ILWU locals in Los Angeles-Long Beach that marine terminal container yards had become so congested that employers on the night shifts beginning today would assign only one 45-man work crew, known as a gang, to work each vessel, rather than three as has been the norm lately. Day shift vessel operations would not be affected. Also, terminal operators would continue to man yard and gate operations normally, PMA stated.

Bobby Olvera, president of ILWU Local 13, blasted the PMA’s new policy, saying it will “take eight to 10 days to unload a ship instead of the normal 2.5 days.”

Container ships have been backing up at anchor since early in the fall because the terminals are so congested with containers. This condition has existed for months due to a variety of factors, including big ships discharging 5,000 to as many as 10,000 containers per vessel call, a severe shortage of chassis and capacity issues in the rail and drayage trucking sectors.

The Marine Exchange of Southern California reported Friday that seven container ships were at anchor and awaiting berths in Los Angeles-Long Beach. That was one more than on Thursday. Vessels at anchor normally peak over the weekends and then dissipate somewhat in the ensuing days.

PMA spokesman Steve Getzug said Friday that marine terminal congestion has been especially severe since the ILWU in Southern California notified the PMA in early November that the union would begin withholding skilled equipment operators in the container yards “for safety reasons.”

The PMA has charged since then that the ILWU was using this action as a bargaining tactic in the coastwide contract negotiations that began on May 12 and has yet to result in an agreement. Skilled equipment operators are crucial to moving containers around in the terminal yards, and in transferring containers to chassis so truckers can carry the loaded boxes to local distribution centers or railheads. The ILWU has been working without a contract since July 1.

Without sufficient skilled equipment operators, the yards will continue to be congested, Getzug said. Therefore, the latest PMA decision to reduce the number of ILWU gangs that will work vessels on night shifts will reduce the number of containers that are being unloaded from the vessels and into the congested yards, he said.

The ILWU locals and PMA representatives met Friday morning to discuss the PMA’s decree and to see if a compromise could be reached, but no agreement resulted, both sides indicated.

Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at bmongelluzzo@joc.com and follow him on Twitter: @billmongelluzzo