The tentative West Coast longshore labor agreement that was reached late Wednesday will initiate a lengthy — but normal — process in which officers of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and waterfront employers over the next few months will explain details of the six-year contract to their respective membership and urge ratification of the agreement.
Based on past contracts negotiations, ILWU locals and local employers will finalize so-called side contracts for their regions that do not require approval at the coast level. The ILWU will then schedule a caucus with officers of the locals to go over details of the coastwide agreement, after which the local officers will hold meetings in their regions to discuss the agreement with their membership.
Finally, a date will be set for a coastwide vote by the ILWU membership. The Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), which has 70 members representing shipping lines and terminal operators, will also discuss and take a ratification vote on the agreement.
In past contract years, the entire process took about three months to complete, which means the ratification process this year may run into the early fall.
Still, Ed DeNike, president of SSA Containers, the largest terminal operator on the West Coast, said he is “almost 100% certain” the ILWU and PMA will ratify the contract. DeNike told the annual meeting of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC) Thursday in Tacoma that the 13 months of negotiations were “hard,” and neither side feels particularly good about the tentative deal. But both sides felt pressure to reach an agreement this week to prevent the negotiations from completely unraveling, he said.
“When [the negotiating process] is over with, you have a sinking feeling that you screwed up,” DeNike said. “When both sides feel that way, it’s actually good.” SSA operates three container terminals in Seattle, three in Long Beach, and Oakland’s largest terminal.
Job actions by ILWU locals should be over
The tentative contract, which was reached late Wednesday with the assistance of US Labor Secretary nominee Julie Su, is expected to put an end to the on-again, off-again work disruptions by ILWU locals that began last fall and affected all major ports along the West Coast to one degree or another. Those labor tactics included failing to dispatch sufficient numbers of workers, the late dispatching of workers and operating cranes far below normal productivity levels.
Three sources told the Journal of Commerce that operations in Seattle-Tacoma, Oakland and Los Angeles-Long Beach went smoothly during the Wednesday night shift and were proceeding normally during Thursday’s day shift.
DeNike, though, expressed concern that the large volumes of discretionary cargo that retailers have diverted to East and Gulf coast ports this past year will not return quickly enough, or at a magnitude necessary to cover the increased labor costs in the new contract.
He noted that SSA accounts for about 25% of total ILWU worker-hours paid on the West Coast, adding SSA’s cargo volumes so far this year are down about 60% in Seattle, 30% in Oakland and 25% in Long Beach.
“This contract that we just agreed to yesterday is going to increase that cost,” DeNike said.
Source:
Mongelluzzo, B. (2023b, June 15). Tentative west coast longshore deal triggers lengthy ratification process. Journal of Commerce. https://www.joc.com/article/tentative-west-coast-longshore-deal-triggers-lengthy-ratification-process_20230615.html