International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) President Harold Daggett and other union officials this week walked out soon after the start of scheduled two-day federal mediation talks with the New York Shipping Association over a local contract for New York and New Jersey dockworkers. The breakdown in the negotiations comes just 4 weeks before the February 6 expiration of the latest contract extension.
Many observers breathed a sigh of relief at the temporary reprieve from a crippling strike before the end of 2012 when the ILA and the United States Maritime Alliance, which negotiates the master contract, agreed on container royalties and announced a contract extension that averted a December 30 strike. It was thought then that the details of a final contract would be relatively simple. However, that view is now in question as the walkout heightened questions about the outlook for a new agreement.
ILA negotiations are conducted on two levels. The coast-wide master contract covers wages, jurisdiction, technology, container royalties, and medical benefits. Supplimentary local contracts cover work rules and other port-specific issues. Employers are unwilling to sign off on a coast-wide deal until all local contracts are settled, and the New York-New Jersey is one of the stickiest of the local agreements and is where the union’s headquarters is located, and is thus a power base.
At issue in the New York-New Jersey agreement is work rules and practices, which currently require high levels of staffing, allow workers to be paid when they are not actually working, and provide round-the-clock pay for a handful of ILA workers. Carriers and terminals want to control costs, improve productivity, and make the port more competitive, but the ILA is resisting proposed changes. Local officials in other ports say they are committed to solidarity with New York-New Jersey.
“It’s unfortunate that the ILA refused to bargain issues that are important to the future success of the Port of New York and New Jersey, namely productivity, excessive manning, and archaic work practices,” said Joseph Curto, president of the New York Shippers Association, in a statement. “Management came to this meeting ready to bargain. We were–and are–prepared to discuss ideas suggested by the ILA. But by walking out of today’s session, the ILA leadership demonstrated its unwillingness to engage in a serious conversation about the changes necessary to ensure the viability of the Port of New York and New Jersey,” he said.
Coast-wide bargaining sessions for 14 container ports on the East Coast and Gulf Coast are still scheduled for next week, while local negotiations are continuing in other ports.
Meanwhile, the National Chicken Council, along with 120 business groups, sent a letter yesterday to ILA President Harold Daggett and James Capo, chairman and CEO of the United States Maritime Alliance, urging both parties to continue their focused efforts to reach a new long-term agreement in advance of the February 6 expiration, saying “it is critical that a new agreement be reached without causing disruptions to our nation’s supply chain.” “Failure to reach agreement will have serious economy-wide impacts. Just the threat of a port shutdown creates a level of uncertainty in today’s fragile economic climate threatening growth and jobs,” the letter said.
