Dockworkers on the West Coast represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) didn’t come to work this morning. ILWU Local 13, which represents workers at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, has “withheld labor” and “effectively shut down” the ports for today, according to the Pacific Maritime Association, the group that represents port employers.
The labor contract for West Coast dockworkers expired last July, and operations have continued without a contract while the new contract is being negotiated. That means the contract’s no-strike clause and some dispute-resolution processes are no longer operative.
In response to the shutdowns, logistics providers have warned their customers that shipments could be delayed. Easter Sunday is already an ILWU holiday, so this action effectively amounts to an unannounced additional day off.
In an advisory to customers, ocean carrier Maersk said that at 5 p.m. yesterday, “ILWU Local 13 crane operators and top handler drivers decided to reject their job assignments that were ordered by the employers for the evening’s second shift, impacting all Los Angeles and Long Beach terminals. As a result, no operations were performed on the night shift.”
The Journal of Commerce reports that Thursday was the last day in office for the president of ILWU Local 13, and the action may have been “linked to his departure.” He had “attempted to force into the coastwide negotiations a demand for extra-manning on certain types of cargo-handling equipment, but reportedly his request has been ignored by the coastwide ILWU negotiators,” the story says.
The ILWU was dealt a defeat by the National Labor Relations Board in a jurisdictional dispute at a cargo terminal in Seattle. That dispute, between the ILWU and the International Association of Machinists over about 25 port mechanics, was said to be holding up negotiations for the entire West Coast. The ILWU announced today that it will appeal the NLRB’s ruling.
The National Retail Federation issued a statement urging the White House to engage in the negotiations and “prevent any further disruption to port operations and cargo fluidity.” That follows up on a March 24 letter to President Biden signed by 238 trade associations urging the same. “Negotiations have been ongoing for over ten months, with little to no progress towards a new long-term agreement,” the letter said.
The ILWU also recently pitched a fit over lunch breaks, with workers taking their breaks simultaneously and halting traffic for an hour in the middle of the day.
Businesses have been preparing for possible disruptions by routing more traffic to ports on the East and Gulf Coasts for months. That has resulted in a steep decline in traffic to the West Coast ports under the ILWU’s control. The Los Angeles Times notes the wide-ranging impacts of the ILWU’s actions:
The local downward trend is worrisome not just to officials at the twin ports but also for 175,000 Southern California workers — employed at the harbors themselves as well as in related businesses — moving freight valued at $469 billion a year, port data show. At stake are jobs all along the supply chain, including truckers, warehouse workers and people employed by logistics specialists.
That’s not even including the millions of other workers employed by businesses around the country that rely on goods imported through the West Coast ports. The months of uncertainty have been bad enough. To throw a work stoppage in on top of it would be brutal, but hardly uncharacteristic for the ILWU.