The Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) announced that weekend vessel loading and unloading operations at West Coast ports in the U.S. will be suspended this weekend, with yard, rail, and gate operations continuing at terminal operators’ discretion.
In an official online release dated February 6, 2015, the PMA said: “In light of ongoing union slowdowns up and down the coast which have brought the ports almost to a standstill, PMA member companies finally have concluded that they will no longer continue to pay workers premium pay for diminished productivity.
“After three months of union slowdowns, it makes no sense to pay extra for less work,” said PMA spokesman Wade Gates, “especially if there is no end in sight to the union’s actions which needlessly brought West Coast ports to the brink of gridlock.”
Vessel operations are scheduled to resume Monday, February 9, said the association. “Yard operations–that is, moving processed containers for truck and rail delivery to customers–will continue at terminal operators’ discretion, although the ILWU (International Longshore and Warehouse Union) continues to limit operations by withholding the needed crane operators or operating slowly,” it continued.
The PMA and ILWU have been in a standoff for several months now over contract negotiations, with each side accusing the other of being the reason for the impasse.
The PMA is an employer association whose largest members include Maersk Line, Evergreen Marine, Hanjin Shipping, ICTSI, NYK Line, OOCL, and COSCO.
The ILWU is a labor union based in San Francisco, and is negotiating a contract that has covered longshore workers at 30 West Coast ports in California, Oregon, and Washington since 1934.
California solon lashes out at PMA
California Senator Isadore Hall has assailed the PMA’s decision: “I am extremely concerned and disappointed in the Pacific Maritime Association’s (PMA) latest reckless and irresponsible decision to suspend activity at ports along the West Coast this weekend.
“California’s ports drive our state’s and our nation’s economy. The Port of Los Angeles, which is in my district and the neighboring Port of Long Beach are the busiest ports in the United States. The goods that are imported and exported out of these two ports alone feed, clothe and supply vital goods to people all over our country and throughout the world.
He said the latest actions by the PMA “show a blatant disregard for the workers who have built our California’s port system, for the small, medium and large businesses across the country that rely on stable and reliable goods movement and for the economic security that these ports provide to our nation.
“Instead of working constructively with ILWU, Local 13 towards a fair and responsible labor contract, the PMA has chosen to unfairly penalize workers and has shown willingness to sacrifice the great economic recovery currently underway for their own economic benefit.”
He said the PMA has entered into “a very dangerous and unnecessary game.”
“California’s and the United States’ economic security is no game—it is central to our national security and to the economic wellbeing of nations and continents throughout the world. I demand that the PMA reconsider its decision to suspend port activity this weekend, reopen our ports, re-enter into good faith negotiations with ILWU, Local 13 and stop being a barrier to California’s economic recovery.”
Photo: Michael Myers
