Western Growers president and CEO Tom Nassif has called on President Obama to intervene in the negotiations to bring about a prompt resolution of the dispute between the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and the International Longshoreman and Warehouse Union (ILWU) workers, which has now been running for nine months.
“The conflict between the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) is harming California’s exports of perishable fresh produce,” said Nassif in a statement on Thursday. “This is of great concern for our state’s economy. In just the last quarter of 2014, the value of US exports of fresh vegetables, fruit and tree nuts to major markets in the Pacific Rim region totalled over US$5bn.
“Inbound ships have been waiting for up to two weeks for berth space and with the port congestion, ships are delayed an additional week before being unloaded,” he added.
The statement followed an announcement on Thursday by PMA that it would suspend operations at 29 West Coast ports for four of the next five days (Thursday to Monday) to prevent paying overtime to dockworkers for two holidays and two weekend days. Thursday was President Lincoln’s birthday – a holiday in some US states – and Monday is a federal holiday (Washington’s birthday), days when the PMA said employers pay a 50 per cent premium on the basic longshoreman’s rate, or up to US$75 an hour, because both are considered holidays under the current union contract.
Nassif said the suspension had exacerbated the situation. “Outbound export shipments of perishable agricultural commodities, which would normally be making delivery at the destination port of call, may not be loaded on board,” he noted. “Perishable agricultural commodities cannot withstand these types of unplanned delays and neither can customers. Many shippers have made the hard decision to forego exports hoping to find alternative homes for their produce, in some instances fetching a lower price for the farmers.”
Western Growers said it had appealed to elected officials and regulatory agencies in a bid to increase pressure on ILWU and PMA to bargain “in good faith” and to stop any work slowdown or lock-out so as to get port operations back on track.
'Even then it will take weeks to untangle this nightmarish logistical situation,' said Nassif. “We strongly urge President Obama to become personally and immediately engaged to get both sides to end this dispute and quickly restore operations at our ports.'
Lockout threat looms
According to Long Beach-based publication the Journal of Commerce (JOC), the PMA is attempting to hold off growing pressures within its own ranks for a lockout at West Coast ports due to the impasse in negotiations. For the past week or so, PMA has been promoting the terms of its contract offer that includes increases in wages, medical benefits, pensions and jurisdiction of chassis maintenance and repair.
“The employers’ strategy is to convince the [ILWU] rank and file that ILWU negotiators do not have their best interests in mind, but rather the union leadership’s best interests,” said a recent report in the JOC.
PMA has also ramped up suspension of night and weekend vessel work citing operational as well as financial reasons, and this is having an impact on the earning power of longshoremen.
ILWU president Robert McEllrath has described the latest suspension of operations as “an effort by the employers to put economic pressure on our members and to gain leverage in contract talks.”
One key fresh produce exporter, who declined to be named, said he feared that if the PMA’s efforts to persuade negotiators to secure and finalise a contract failed then a lockout by PMA members could follow.
“If this happens all work will stop and we will have little warning inadvance,” the exporter told Fruitnet. “A lockout would have a negative impact on the domestic market as well as export markets. Packers would need to find domestic markets for the fruit and Imports of summer fruit from Chile destined fortheWest Coast would bediverted.”
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