West Coast Port Terminals Shut Down Amid Labor Negotiations
UPDATE Wednesday, June 14th: West Coast Ports have stabilized after ILWU and PMA have agreed to a cooling-off period.
Terminals have been operating normally as early as the Tuesday day shift. Both sides are using this cooling off period to reach an apparent truce with negotiations resuming as of Tuesday. Oakland, Seattle, and Tacoma, who all suffered extensively during the work slowdown last week, are all reporting to be back to working at a normal capacity.
Several terminals at major container gateways across the US West Coast have tentatively closed as of Friday, June 2nd, due to dockworkers’ response to the breakdown of coast-wide contract negotiations from the previous day, specifically regarding wages.
The contract negotiations are currently being held between the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), which represent labor negotiations for the terminal operators and shipping lines, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU).
Their inability to come to an agreement has caused the ILWU workers to partially or in some locations, completely shut down marine terminals in the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Tacoma, Seattle, and Hueneme.
In a statement released on Friday, ILWU Local 13, a union that represents workers in Los Angeles and Long Beach, stated that union members “had taken it upon themselves to voice their displeasure with the ocean carriers’ and terminal operators’ position.”
The timing of the next negotiation discussion between the organizations is currently unknown.
Scarbrough is aware of the pending situation and will continue to monitor and pass along information as it is released. We are here to assist you in any way we can, so please reach out to your Scarbrough rep with any questions.
