The West Coast Shipping Situation

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 impose a three-year wage freeze on the ILWU, causing work stoppages and slowdowns. This will have a significant impact on the port due to a variety of other issues going on globally, such as low freight rates and restrictions in the Panama Canal. 

The Gulf and East Coast ports are seeing their investments pay off as they can absorb the spillover. However, the ocean carriers benefit from increased freight rates, which may impact the entire world. The FMC has very little power to intervene in this situation, and it is suggested that there should be a push to get the heads of both organizations together to resolve the issue.

PMA Pacific Maritime Association

PMA is governed by an 11-member board of directors composed of leading executives from its member companies. As you can see in the table below, only 3 of the members are headquartered in the USA with primary concern for the welfare of west coast ports. The remaining 8 are global shipping concerns with goals of enhancing the profitability of their world wide shipping. One can envision circumstances where these concerns would not align with the welfare of our ports and the economy of the west coast states.

PMA Board

Company

Foreign

Roy Amalfitano

Evergreen Shipping Agency (America) Corp.

x

Ronnie Armstrong

Ocean Network Express, (North America) Inc.

x

Patrick Burgoyne

CMA CGM Group

x

Edward A. DeNike

SSA Marine, Inc.

u

Thomas Engel

Hapag-Lloyd (America) LLC

x

Ron Forest

Matson Navigation Company, Inc.

u

Al Gebhardt

Maersk Transport & Logistics

x

Joe Gregorio

Pacific Crane Maintenance Co., LLC

u

Paul Nazzaro

COSCO Shipping Lines (North America), Inc.

x

Chris Parvin

Mediterranean Shipping Company (USA)

x

George Pasha, IV

Pasha Hawaii

u

 

 

 

The PMA says it will continue to provide world-class wages and benefits to ILWU workers, who are essential to keeping goods moving and ensuring the health of West Coast ports. Under the current contract, the 15,500-plus union members earn, on average, nearly $195,000 per year – roughly three times the U.S. median income. In addition, ILWU members enjoy a benefits package worth an average of $102,000 per worker per year, including fully employer-paid healthcare, generous pension and retirement-savings plans, and guaranteed pay for up to 40 hours per week when work is not available.

 

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