West Coast Port Contract Remains in Place During Three-Day Break
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association said their labor contract, which expired June 30, will remain in place while the sides take a 72-hour break in their negotiations this week.
The break, which began July 8 and will extend through July 11, will be in place while ILWU attends to an unrelated negotiation in the Pacific Northwest, the sides said in a joint statement.
PMA and ILWU are negotiating a new contract covering nearly 20,000 longshore workers at 29 West Coast ports.
“It’s very comforting that they were able to keep the contract in place,” Jon Slangerup, the new chief executive at the Port of Long Beach, Calif., told Transport Topics on July 8.
“We’re not involved” with the negotiations, but “as far as the relationship the port has with the longshore union, this is a very good relationship, and we want them to feel secure” in the port’s regular operations, Slangerup said.
