Pacific Maritime Association Says Oakland Disruptions Violate Contract
The Pacific Maritime Association, management negotiators in this year’s West Coast labor negotiations, said operations still are being disrupted at the Port of Oakland, California, despite the ratification of a five-year contract 10 days ago.
The announcement from PMA said that officials at Local 34 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union refused to dispatch workers for a May 31 shift, forcing a halt to operations, a move that represented the third disruption in Oakland operations since the May 22 ratification announcement.
The group that negotiates on behalf of ocean carriers and terminal operators said the union was violating contract terms as well as an arbitrator’s ruling that ordered the union to follow new dispatch procedures contained in the contract.
The five-year agreement covering about 20,000 workers in 29 ports was ratified after a series of slowdowns delayed hundreds of thousands of shipments. As many as 28 containerships waited at anchor for days at Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, before the cargo backlogged during the final stages of negotiations was being whittled down.
“By sanctioning illegal work stoppages, the local ILWU leaders are not just violating the new contract but are disrespecting the truckers, local residents and small businesses whose livelihoods depend on the efficient and reliable movement of cargo through the port,” the PMA statement said.
A spokesman for ILWU referred requests for comment to Local 34, whose president, Sean Farley, didn’t immediately return messages from Transport Topics seeking comment.
The management group also said the first shift was dispatched without incident June 1.
