CUSTOMER ADVISORY

Dear Customer,

Please find excerpt taken from an article published by CNN to the industry.

The PMA says union leaders have been implementing disruption tactics since Friday — slowing operations at West Coast ports and forcing the ports to close shipping terminals.

“Over the weekend and continuing today, the ILWU has continued to stage concerted and disruptive work actions that have slowed operations at key marine terminals at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and elsewhere on the West Coast, including the Ports of Oakland and Seattle,” the PMA said in a statement Monday.

The association (PMA) and International Longshoremen and Warehouse Union represents the dockworkers who have been negotiating a new contract since May 10, 2022. The union, which represents 22,000 workers at 29 US West Coast ports, said on Friday that they remained committed to negotiating a good agreement for their workers as talks continued. The union did not address the work disruptions.

Amid news of disruptions, the National Retail Administration is calling on the Biden administration to intervene in negotiations to resolve the labor dispute ahead of the summer, heading into the peak holiday shipping season.

The ILWU says negotiations will continue as the two sides approach one year since their contract expired on July 1, 2022.

“Any reports that negotiations have broken down are false,” said Willie Adams, president of the ILWU, on Friday. “We are getting there but it’s important to understand that West Coast dockworkers kept the economy going during the pandemic and lost their lives doing so. We aren’t going to settle for an economic package that doesn’t recognize the heroic efforts and personal sacrifices of the ILWU workforce that lifted the shipping industry to record profits.”

The ILWU Canada and the BCMEA also continue with their negotiations north of the border. Please find excerpt from a news release published by the JOC.

International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Canada on Monday threatened to strike at the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert, telling its rank-and-file to vote later this week on whether to issue a 72-hour notice for a work action.

The threat against Vancouver and Prince Rupert, both major gateways for US cargoes with direct intermodal rail services to Chicago, comes as ILWU Canada’s US counterpart slows cargo flow for a fourth day. The prospect of labor disruptions on both the US and Canadian West coasts is unprecedented. Vancouver is Canada’s largest container port and Prince Rupert ranks third. 

ILWU Canada’s negotiating committee said in a statement it had authorized a vote for Thursday and Friday on whether to strike. A week before the five-year contract was set to expire at the end of March, ILWU Canada asked the Canadian federal government for help in reaching a new contract with the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association, citing a lack of “meaningful” progress.

ILWU Canada is seeking significant wage increases, while the potential for automation of cargo-handling equipment at a planned Vancouver marine terminal is also raising labor’s ire. 

We continue to monitor the progression of negotiations and will provide further updates as they are made available to the industry.

Sincerely,

HENSALL GLOBAL LOGISTICS