ILA Talks Stalled

[pier 12]

ILA Talks Stalled With a Month to Go

Joseph Bonney, Senior Editor

Aug 31, 2012 7:24PM GMT

The Journal of Commerce Online - News Story



Union seeks final offer; USMX says negotiations still incomplete

The International Longshoremen’s Association formally asked United States Maritime Alliance for a final contract offer, but USMX Chairman/CEO James Capo said he can’t present one until bargaining is finished.

“I have nothing to offer,” Capo said. “As far as I’m concerned, we’re still in negotiations. We’re a long way from being able to put together a final offer. We’re going to run out of time if something doesn’t happen.”

The ILA and USMX broke off contract talks Aug. 22 after ILA President Harold Daggett refused to commit to negotiations on work-rule changes management says are needed to improve productivity at East and Gulf Coast ports.

After talks broke down, Daggett said a strike appears likely when the union’s current contract expires Sept. 30. The ILA’s master contract covers all ports from Maine to Texas.

Nervous shippers are scrambling to implement costly contingency plans. Those plans include moving shipments early or diverting cargo to the West Coast, Canada or Mexico in order to meet deadlines for production or in-store availability.

Organizations including the National Industrial Transportation League, National Retail Federation, Retail Industry Leaders Association and Waterfront Coalition have called for renewed negotiations.

“I sympathize with them, but I don’t know what to tell them,” Capo said of the shippers. “We’re ready to bargain, but we can’t negotiate with ourselves.”

The ILA and USMX reached agreement in principle in July on two of the union’s top objectives — a framework for continued automation and protection of ILA jurisdiction over chassis maintenance and repair.

Capo said, though, that the ILA has been unwilling to discuss management concerns or engage in comprehensive bargaining over other issues. Chief among those are hourly guarantees, staffing requirements and work rules that drive up overtime and other costs.

At the Port of New York and New Jersey, some 40 percent of hours paid to ILA members are for time in which no work is done. One-third of the port’s dockworkers are paid more than $208,000 a year in wages and benefits, in addition to annual bonuses based on container tonnage.

Daggett has defended ILA pay and accused management of trying to roll back gains the union has built over several decades.

[Big Rig]

At the Port of New York and New Jersey, some 40 percent of hours paid to ILA members are for time in which no work is done. One-third of the port’s dockworkers are paid more than $208,000 a year in wages and benefits, in addition to annual bonuses based on container tonnage.

We are going to suffer when many of these guys are making, the kind of money and we are fighting to survive. I don't really care how much any person makes until it starts affecting my pocket, these ILA workers and their Union Reps could care less about us and when they finally squeeze the Port Authority out of a few more Dollars and they wqueeze the shipper who do you think will take the pay cut.