Hard Deck Logistics received notices that the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 13 group held their scheduled “stop-work” meetings this past Thursday night, (see LINK), and today on Friday, June 2, 2023, several ILWU members either did not show up for work at the ports or staged concerted work slowdowns. Today, Hard Deck Logistics was involved in some communications with several drayage providers regarding ocean containers that could not be picked up at the FMS port in LA/LGB due to no workers or stop work impact which seems to have forced some ports to shut down certain operations. We understand that several ports in the LA/LGB port complex, Oakland, Tacoma, and Seattle have suffered such work shutdowns or slowdowns.
The Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) stated that there have been concerted and disruptive work actions throughout the West Coast staged by the ILWU which you can see their statement HERE. This seems to be consistent with and confirms some of the news that Hard Deck Logistics has received.
The PMA is an association that represents shipping companies and marine terminal operators and as you may know, they have been in ongoing negotiations with the ILWU on a collective bargaining agreement that covers more than 22,000 longshore workers at 29 USA West Coast ports since May 2022 (the previous agreement expired on July 1, 2022). ILWU workers have been working without a contract since the date of expiration. In April of 2023, you may recall there were several days of work slowdowns/stoppages at the ports and other ongoing work slowdown tactics. Shortly afterward it was reported in the news that a tentative agreement had been reached on certain “key” issues between the PMA/ILWU. However, today’s events are yet another sign of perhaps more politics, negotiation tactics, or some impasse on certain issues.
Officially, as we understand, this is not being called a “strike”.
We will keep our readers, clients, and industry friends updated with the latest developments regarding this extremely fluid situation.
Sincerely,
CEO Hard Deck Logistics
www.harddecklogistics.com
traffic@harddecklogistics.com