What`s less clear is how other factors will come into play, such as .B. how employers would react to a union attempt to reduce automation, as wage and benefits increases related to employers` ability to automate will amount to $800 million by the time the current contract expires next year. “They were paid for the right to terminals to be automated,” said a senior industry director associated with port development. Internal trade union policies have also played a role. Amid the 2019 protests against the Pier 400 permit, the International Longshoremen`s Association stood out from its West Coast counterparts, issuing a press release on the dispute, drawing attention to how fully automated terminals in ports on the east coasts and Gulf of Mexico were banned as part of the six-year framework contract extension signed in 2018. “We were absolutely opposed to fully automated terminals and our employers gave us a guarantee that they would not build them for the duration of our new package,” ILA President Harold Daggett said in the statement. Freight delays have occurred on the West Coast in almost every contract negotiation since the 1990s. Photo credit: Shutterstock.com. August 7, 2017 | The International Longshore Warehouse Union (ILWU) has announced that its members have voted for a three-year extension of their west coast employment contract. The contract with the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), which was originally scheduled to expire in 2019, now expires on July 1, 2022, avoiding negotiation-related work disruptions for the foreseeable future. However, as the current contract does not expire until mid-2022, a number of factors could still come into play. For example, the ILWU will hold a leadership election this fall, and the position of the union that begins negotiations will not be determined until new leadership is in place. “The Toy Association welcomes the news of the extension of the ILWU-PMA contract.
The approval signals greater stability for U.S. toy companies that rely on West Coast ports to ensure their products are delivered on time,” said Rebecca Mond, Senior Director of Federal Government Affairs at the Toy Association. “We hope this vote will put pressure on East Coast ports to enter into their own agreement as their coastal contract expires in 2018.” This point was made clear last week by the rapid and negative reaction of Southern California dockers to plans by TTI, which is 80% owned by Mediterranean Shipping Co., to automate the largest terminal at the Port of Long Beach. A statement by three Southern California natives from the International Longshore and Warehouse Union criticizing the plans failed to mention a key fact that should be the main point of contention and most likely the destabilizing factor in future negotiations: Under a series of collective agreements signed since 2008, employers like TTI have the contractual right to automate the handling of goods at their facilities. The fuel element is that despite the contractual language that enables automation and the fact that three terminals have implemented automation since 2008, the ILWU increasingly views automation as an existential threat and a microcosm of robotics` greatest threat, displacing human labor. This is a significant change from previous years, when they accepted the terminals` right to automation in exchange for various concessions, including a lifetime income for each docker whose job is eliminated by automation. The Toy Association has signed several letters from the industry in favor of extending the contract and voting. From 2014 to 2015, West Coast ports received significant support as a result of ILWU/PMA contract negotiations, resulting in delays during the peak shipping season that hurt many toy companies. Another unpredictable element is recent changes in ocean carriers, which include eight of the 11 seats on the board of directors of the Pacific Maritime Association, which negotiates with the ILWU. Not only have airlines consolidated in recent years, but they have also seen the power of concerted action by massively withdrawing their capacity after the March 2020 lockdown.
However, after their profits skyrocketed during the pandemic, airlines could face a union more encouraged to ask for concessions. The same factor, on the other hand, could prompt airlines to seek a peaceful, albeit costly, settlement more quickly if cargo and ship charter rates remain at high levels next year, as delays in ships or cargo would be particularly costly. Many those close to West Coast industrial relations believe the union could go even further in the next round of bargaining before the current contract expires on July 1, 2022, potentially trying to reduce employers` automation rights. To this end, they could put pressure on carriers to give in or negotiate by causing slowdowns or other costly disruptions to the movement of goods. Cargo delays have occurred on the West Coast during almost every negotiation since the 1990s, including a 10-day port closure in 2002 and a six-month disruption in 2014 and 2015 that forced dozens of container ships to anchor off the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. In many cases, airlines have caved in to union demands due to the high cost of disrupting their networks, resulting in ILWU members being among the highest wages and benefits among U.S. unionized workers. This has been evident in a series of actions over the past two years, starting in 2019, when the union tried to prevent APMT from automating part of its Pier 400 terminal in Los Angeles by asking the Port Council to refuse a necessary permit. The efforts were unsuccessful, but delayed the project by several months.
He supported legislation that was eventually passed in Washington state banning the use of zero-emission devices purchased with public funds for automation. She also supported a 2019 California bill that, as originally introduced, would have allowed a state agency to approve the use of automated technologies on a case-by-case basis. Questions on this topic can be directed to Rebecca Mond. Contact Peter Tirschwell in peter.tirschwell@ihsmarkit.com and follow him on Twitter: @petertirschwell. The planned investment by TTI has not been announced, but it is likely to amount to several hundred million or more. Ironically, this will make the LA Long Beach complex more competitive after years of losing market share at ports like Prince Rupert, Savannah and others on the East Coasts and Gulf of Mexico. The $1.5 billion long-range container terminal and TraPac, the port`s other automated terminal, consistently produce the shortest truck turnaround times at the port, directly benefiting shippers when deciding which port gateways to use. On an even more fundamental level, with the LA-Long Beach walkway approaching capacity and additional land unavailable, the only way to grow is to condense their operations, which can only be achieved through – you guessed it – automation.
Whether it`s a head-on collision, a punch or a near miss, a dangerous encounter between dockers and U.S. West Coast management is approaching with the current collective agreement expiring in just over a year. .