LOS ANGELES — Despite the involvement of federal mediators in negotiations over a key labor contract covering the West Coast ports, complaints from businesses that rely on the harbors for shipping continue to build as progress stalls.
In a letter sent Friday to both the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association, 174 trade associations, ranging from the California Retailers Association and Fashion Accessories Shippers Association to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and U.S. Fashion Industry Association, urged them to finalize a new contract and ease the congestion that has marred shipments at the ports since talks began last May.
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In particular, the letter stressed the fallout of the contract negotiations on the trade groups’ bottom line: “Sales of American exports remain clouded in uncertainty across Asia and our overseas competitors eagerly highlight the problems at West Coast ports as a reason not to purchase American made or grown products. Manufacturers in the Midwest have had to slow and even stop production lines due to delays in receiving containers from the West Coast that hold critical inputs. Retailers are now seeing delays of early spring merchandise including products for Valentine’s Day and Easter.”
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This letter is one of a series received by the union, which represents 20,000 dockworkers on the West Coast, and the association, which includes 72 multinational cargo carriers and terminal-operating companies at 29 ports, since the previous six-year contract expired on July 1. Even after the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service disclosed on Jan. 5 that it would intervene after receiving a joint request from the ILWU and PMA, both sides advanced their media war, alleging improper tactics.
On Jan. 12, the PMA accused the union of staging so many slowdowns that port operations approached “complete gridlock.” Later that day, the ILWU said the employers’ association acknowledged to it and a federal mediator that limited space for containers on the dock, rather than the dockworkers, caused the congestion at the West Coast ports. At the same time, the union criticized the PMA’s plan to eliminate night shifts at many ports even though it complained of slow productivity.
Such exchanges leave businesses that rely on the ports “disappointed,” according to the letter from the 174 trade groups. “As customers of your ports, and industries affected by their operations, our members desperately need this negotiation to be concluded and operations returned to normal levels of through-put,” they said. “It is a black eye for the broader economy and some jobs have and will continue to be lost as a result of continued delays at the ports.”