Ocean cargo/global logistics: Pacific Maritime Association and ILWU face common challenge

SAN FRANCISCO—As U.S. West Coast load centers grapple with fewer inbound vessel calls and declining freight throughput, labor and management may be forced to do something new: cooperate.

Threatened May Day demonstrations and a work stoppage planned by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 10 failed to materialize in the Bay Area last week, as dockworkers were told that a violation of their existing contract would result in five days of lost pay. And at this point, they can use all the pay they can get.

James McKenna, president and CEO of the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), played hardball with the union for the first time since the new six-year contract was signed last summer, but shippers here suspect that it won’t be the last time he pleads with workers to play on the same team.

“How does this contract provide stability for West Coast Ports in an environment where reduced volumes and increased competition from Canada and Mexico ports is a reality?” asked Jean Banker, manager, finance and administrative services for the maritime division at the Port of Oakland. “How will the West Coast ports increase and maximize efficiency?”

Banker, who also serves on the Pacific Transportation Association’s (PTA) board of directors, may get some answers to those questions when McKenna addresses the PTA this Thursday at the “Ports & Terminals” luncheon in Oakland’s Jack London Square.  

As president of the PMA, which is headquartered in San Francisco, McKenna directs the association’s principal business activity of negotiating and administering maritime labor agreements with the ILWU.

Find the rest of the article at logisticsmgmnt.com.