The State of California

Jobs at Stake as California Port Terminals Go Green gcaptain.com Reuters LOS ANGELES, June 8 (Reuters) – Unions hope a $30 million grant to electrify tractors in a Long Beach, California, port terminal’s final push to become the world’s first zero-emissions facility will serve as a bulwark against lost jobs in an era of energy transition and increasing automation. The money from U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration for Long Beach Container Terminal’s purchase of 60 electric yard tractors that haul shipping containers from stacks to waiting trains comes with strings attached: the new equipment must be operated by humans. The drivers of those new tractors will labor alongside more than 100 automated vehicles and 70 driverless container-stacking cranes at America’s most automated port terminal, which aims to be emissions free by 2030. The U.S. transportation sector is the nation’s largest contributor of cl...

The West Coast Shipping Situation The International Longshore and Warehouse Union announced that it reached a tentative agreement with the Pacific Maritime Association on certain key issues. Still, negotiations remain ongoing until an agreement is reached. The collective bargaining agreement that the ILWU and PMA are negotiating covers more than 22,000 longshore workers at 29 U.S. West Coast ports, including the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, two of the busiest ports in the nation. ILWU, the union representing longshore workers, has been negotiating with PMA, the industry representing shippers, since May 2022. The parties are negotiating new contracts with priorities on wages and the role of automation. The parties previous agreement expired on July 1, 2022. Support workers have stopped showing up to work at ports over the weekend due to a dispute between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and Pacific Maritime Association (PMA). The PMA wants to...

Tensions Boil Over In West Coast Labor Talks gcaptain.com Tensions Boil Over In West Coast Labor Talks Mike Schuler 4–6 minutes The International Longshore Workers’ Union’s local union in Southern California has issued a statement today slamming the actions of foreign ocean carriers and marine terminal operators amid ongoing negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement for unionized labor at West Coast ports. The Pacific Maritime Association, representing ocean carriers and terminals operators in the negotiations, hit back on Twitter , accusing the ILWU of “concerted” work action that has disrupted operations at multiple ports from Southern California to Washington. The back and forth comes about a month and a half after the ILWU expressed optimism on reaching a tentative agreement with the PMA. However, the PMA at the time maintained that several key issues still remained ...