THE battle between dockworkers and shipping officials intensified this weekend at the Port of Oakland as the long-running contract dispute at 29 ports on the West Coast dragged on, causing crippling delays and devastating economic losses.
The Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping lines and terminal operators, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents 20,000 dockworkers, have been at an impasse since July 1, when the union contract ran out.
Work delays and stoppages over the past three months have caused mounting problems for Bay Area importers and small-business owners, who say they are losing money as trucks line up daily outside the Port of Oakland waiting for container ships anchored in San Francisco Bay to unload.
The Maritime Association suspended vessel loading and unloading operations over the weekend at all West Coast ports, including Oakland. The move, which essentially eliminated weekend overtime work for thousands of longshoremen, was in retaliation for what association officials called vindictive work slowdowns and stoppages.
‘The member companies concluded that they will no longer pay premium pay for diminished productivity,’ said Wade Gates, the association spokesman, adding that shipping lines pay time-and-a-half on the weekends.
Craig Merrilees, spokesman for the union, called the decision ‘irresponsible and damaging to people who need their containers’. The merchants, he said, ‘are being held hostage by these foreign-owned companies that are committing economic terrorism against workers and business owners’.
On Thursday, ILWU International President Robert McEllrath blasted the Pacific Maritime Association for threatening to shut down West Coast ports, bargaining in the media, and distorting the facts.
‘What the ILWU heard yesterday is a man who makes about one million dollars a year telling the working class that we have more than our share,’ said McEllrath.
‘Intensifying the rhetoric at this stage of bargaining, when we are just a few issues from reaching an agreement, is totally unnecessary and counterproductive.’
In mid-January, PMA claimed that there was a lack of dock space for containers, and it eliminated nightshifts at many ports.
On Thursday, the union provided photos disputing the employer group’s assertion that docks are too congested to unload ships.
‘PMA is leaving ships at sea and claiming there’s no space on the docks, but there are acres of asphalt just waiting for the containers on those ships, and hundreds of longshore workers ready to unload them,’ said McEllrath.
‘The employers are deliberately worsening the existing congestion crisis to gain the upper hand at the bargaining table.’
The union provided several photos of marine terminals in Southern California that show large tracts of space that would easily fit thousands of containers.
‘The employers’ threat to shut down West Coast ports is a reckless and unnecessary move.
‘What the employers need to do is stay at the negotiating table and work through a few remaining issues with the workers who have made them successful for the past 80 years. We are very close to reaching an agreement,’ said McEllraththe.
James McKenna, the maritime association president, denied he was considering a lockout, but urged the union to accept what amounted to 3 per cent raises over five years, employer-paid health care and an 11 per cent increase in pensions.
The association said the average dockworker currently makes $147,000 a year in salary. But money isn’t the primary issue, the ILWU’s Merrilees said. Job security and improved worker safety are the real concerns, he said, especially since dock workers are servicing larger ships, handling more cargo and dealing with increasing pressure to speed things up.
‘The industry has been showing a willingness to outsource and destroy good jobs,’ said Merrilees. ‘Our goal is to make sure the good-paying blue-collar jobs that 30 communities up and down the coast depend on today are there tomorrow.’
The steadily deteriorating situation also has affected the 28 other ports between Seattle and San Diego, delaying merchandise deliveries up and down the coast. It is so bad that McKenna said last week that a ‘coast-wide meltdown’ is imminent if a settlement isn’t reached.
Michael Zampa, communications director for the Port of Oakland, said anywhere from a half-dozen to a dozen ships are anchored in the bay every day, waiting for a spot at the Oakland marine terminal. An equal number are stuck outside the Golden Gate because there is no room for them to even anchor in the bay.
Union workers have cut production from an average of about 32 containers moved per hour in October to about 24 per hour in February, he added.
‘There has been a noticeable decline in productivity and there have been disruptions,’ Zampa said.
‘At various times, labour has walked off the job, claiming health or safety concerns, and there has often been less than the full complement of labour deployed to terminals.’
The Port of Oakland is the third-largest port in California and the fifth-biggest in the United States. Port officials lease the facilities to marine terminal operators and are not involved in the contract negotiations. Still, the impasse has had a major impact on operations.
The port employs only about 500 people, but there are at least 73,000 ancillary jobs, including crane operators, cargo handlers, warehouse crews, railroad workers, customs officials and importers, all the way down to the taco stand operator, Zampa said.
Between 7,000 and 9,000 truckers pick up or drop off cargo at the port, and many of them have had to wait as long as eight hours to get into the terminal. That’s not to mention all the merchants who purchased the goods sitting in the containers.
The Port of Oakland set a record for the number of freight containers it handled in 2014, in part because of diversions from Los Angeles and Long Beach. The two Southern California ports handle more imports from Asia than any others in the United States, but much of their traffic has had to be diverted because of the same shipping congestion problems that have hit Oakland.
Union officials insist that the back-ups already existed, and worsened only because the maritime association has refused to approve safety measures and make planning and infrastructure improvements that would help workers deal with the increased amount of cargo from super-size container ships.
Federal mediators are in San Francisco trying to help settle the dispute.
• Hundreds of union steelworkers rallied at two local refineries Saturday in support of 5,200 steelworkers on strike, or about to strike, at 11 refineries and chemical plants in California, Kentucky, Texas, Washington, Indiana, and Ohio.
On Saturday morning, about 150 members of the United Steelworkers union, led by Local 10-234, met at the union hall in Trainer and marched to the Monroe Energy refinery for a rally, said the local’s president, Denis J. Stephano.
In the afternoon, approximately 100 workers, led by Local 10-1, rallied at the Passyunk Avenue entrance to the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery in South Philadelphia.
Workers are not on strike at either area plant. Steelworkers are negotiating a national model contract with one company. That contract will form the basis for the rest of the contracts along with local issues bargained at each plant.
Local issue negotiations began last week at the Trainer plant, Stephano said, describing the talks as cordial. The Trainer contract expires March 1. Philadelphia Energy Solution’s contract expires in September.
‘We’re just out showing our support,’ said Jim Savage, president of Local 10-1 and a member of the national bargaining committee. Management and labor relations at both local plants have generally been good, both union leaders said.
Nationally, Savage said, members are concerned about forced overtime, staffing levels, healthcare and training. The strikes began February 1.
• Members of the union group United Steelworkers at the BP oil refinery in Whiting, Indiana, joined a labour strike against the oil industry just after midnight on Saturday.
More than 1,000 members of the Whiting district joined a national strike against the industry for unfair labour practices. An additional 340 workers at BP refineries in Toledo, Ohio, also joined the strike, which they began at 12:01 a.m. Sunday morning.
The employees on strike sent gave notice to BP management on Friday. The strike comes after negotiations with Shell Oil did not adequately address the union’s concerns about health and safety, according to USW International Vice President Gary Beevers.
‘Shell refused to provide us with a counter-offer and left the bargaining table,’ USW International President Leo W. Gerard said. ‘We had no choice but to give notice of a work stoppage.’
Among the oil workers complaints are severe overtime, unsafe staffing levels and dangerous working conditions. It is the first nationwide strike in US oil refineries since 1980.
The steelworkers are joining nearly 3,800 other USW oil workers on strike at nine refineries in California, Kentucky, Texas and Washington.
‘We are absolutely committed to negotiating a fair contract that improves safety conditions throughout the industry,’ Gerard said. ‘Management cannot continue to resist allowing workers a stronger voice on issues that could very well make the difference between life and death for too many of them.’
