West Coast ports reach union contract, ending year-long labor dispute
The Pacific Maritime Association, which represents port owners, has accused the union of slowing trade through coordinated walkouts. And both sides repeatedly issued statements criticizing each other during negotiations on issues such as automation and wages, although they were apparently operating under a media blackout.
The dispute did not develop into a strike, but it came close: Canadian dock workers voted to authorize one over the weekend.
“We are pleased to have reached an agreement that recognizes the heroic efforts and personal sacrifices [International Longshore and Warehouse Union] workforce to keep our ports operating,” Pacific Maritime Association President James McKenna and ILWU President Willie Adams said in a joint statement. “We are also pleased to return our full attention to the operation of the West Coast ports.”
The West Coast is key to the country’s trade, and the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland and Seattle serve as critical gateways for container ships bringing imports from Asia. They collectively handle hundreds of billions of dollars in cargo each year for products such as agricultural commodities, manufacturing components and consumer electronics.
Business groups, including the National Retail Federation, have called those supply lines “critical” to their operations as they urged the White House to broker a deal.
Concerns about wages and automation
The biggest long-standing flashpoint for the union and port management concerned automation, namely the extent to which port managers can bring in machines to do jobs that are currently done by longshoremen.
But the topic of pay recently became an unexpected sticking point, according to three people briefed on the negotiations who were not authorized to discuss the proceedings.
The workers wanted the new contract to include retroactive pay provisions to compensate them for the time they worked without a contract, the people said. At one point, a draft proposal leaked to union members appeared to suggest the provision had been dropped, prompting sporadic walkouts in Oakland and elsewhere. It remains unclear whether the tentative agreement includes retroactive pay.
The Biden administration, for its part, became closely involved in mediating the dispute as it sought to head off further potential trade disruptions. It sent Labor Minister Julie Su to help reach a deal, leading to near-daily talks with negotiators, people close to the negotiations said.
Su “used his deep experience and judgment to keep the parties talking, and worked with them to reach an agreement after a long and sometimes bitter negotiation,” President Biden said in a statement Thursday. “Above all, I congratulate the dockworkers, who have served heroically through the pandemic and the myriad challenges it brought, and who will finally receive the wages, benefits and quality of life they deserve.”
It is not the first high-profile labor dispute that has drawn the White House. Last year, Biden became personally involved in mediating a railroad dispute with Marty Walsh, his former labor secretary.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
