Delegates from the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) have voted to recommend approval of the tentative agreement reached in February between the union and employers represented by the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA).
The ILWU Coast Longshore Caucus made the recommendation April 3 to approve the draft pact reached February 20 this year by the ILWU’s 16-member elected negotiating committee and eight-member safety sub-committee. The proposed five-year contract covers 20,000 dockworkers at 29 West Coast ports.
In an official release, the ILWU said all 90 delegates to the caucus spent last week reviewing the proposed agreement line-by-line, before voting by 78% to recommend the proposal on Friday.
“This agreement required ten months of negotiations—the longest in recent history,” said ILWU international president Bob McEllrath, “but we secured a tentative agreement to maintain good jobs for dockworkers, families and communities from San Diego to Bellingham. Longshore men and women on the docks will now have the final and most important say in the process.”
Copies of the agreement will be mailed to longshore union members, who will then have a chance to discuss the proposal at local union meetings. A secret ballot membership ratification vote will be the final step in the process. A final tally will be conducted on May 22.
The labor deadlock, which dragged on for 10 months starting in May and ensued from the hard-line stance taken by the contending sides, had spewed port congestion and mounting losses for businesses.
It was only through the intervention of U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez in February that the parties were able to break through the impasse and resume operations at the ports.
Daily vessel report on Long Beach website
Meanwhile, the Port of Long Beach has added a “Vessels at a Glance” page to its website as part of efforts to alleviate congestion, increase transparency, and improve supply chain efficiency. The section features a daily update showing all vessels at berth and anchor within the port, as well as their arrival and departure dates and length of stay in Long Beach.
Also on the new page are charts updated weekly showing the number of vessels at anchor at both Los Angeles and Long Beach, which illustrate trends over the last six months.
As of March 30, the number of container ships at anchor for the two ports has dropped dramatically to 11, showing that the San Pedro Bay ports are catching up on the backlog of cargo, a Long Beach statement said. Just two weeks ago, on March 14, the ships at anchor peaked at 28.
But while cargo congestion at Los Angeles and Long Beach, the busiest ports on the West Coast, has lifted significantly since February, port officials admitted it would take several more weeks for freight traffic to normalize.
Photo courtesy of Port of Long Beach
