Posted on August 14, 2017
By The Editorial Board, Long Beach Press Telegram
Retailers, shippers and consumers breathed a sigh of relief as a first-of-its-kind contract extension was approved by dockworkers at all West Coast ports.
The extension, ensuring labor peace at 29 ports in California, Oregon and Washington until 2022, was hailed by management and union officials who wanted to avoid labor strife that devastated the economy in 2014-15.
Nobody wanted to see a repeat of the problems that were experienced two years ago when contract talks between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association broke down. West Coast ports were crippled with a cargo slowdown that came during the holiday season. Especially hard hit was the Los Angeles and Long Beach megaport complex, which is considered the linchpin of trade from Asia into the United States, moving 37 percent of all the nation’s imports. The inability to get a contract slowed cargo movement and cost the economy billions of dollars as retail inventories were held up on the docks and deliveries were delayed throughout the nation.
An agreement was finally reached in February 2015 after President Barack Obama sent his labor secretary to join the negotiations. The agreement, signed almost eight months after the prior contract had expired, was due to expire in 2019.
The Pacific Maritime Association, which represents terminal operators and shippers who hire ILWU workers, proposed talks on a contract extension to avoid another slowdown. Sixty-seven percent of union workers approved the three-year extension that covers 20,000 full-time and part-time workers from Bellingham, Wash., to San Diego. It is the first contract extension of its kind in ILWU history.
It is a win for everyone involved, from consumers wanting products delivered on time to port officials and operators who sorely need labor stability as global competition intensifies. And union members receive a generous compensation package, including pay raises of 3.1 percent each year of the extension.
With this potential thorn out of the way, the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach can concentrate now on finding ways to deliver value and efficiency for U.S. importers and exporters as competion heats up.
Source: Press-Telegram Opinion
