SEATTLE — Dock workers at four U.S. Pacific Northwest ports moved closer to a possible labor clash with grain shippers on Monday, as parties in a larger, separate dispute at 15 East and Gulf coast ports agreed to mediation ahead of strike deadline set for Dec. 30.
The International Longshore and Warehouse announced nearly 3,000 of its members had voted to reject a contract proposal that management called its “last, best and final” offer.
The proposed contract covers six of the nine grain terminals operating in Puget Sound and along the Columbia River that account for more than a quarter of all U.S. grain exports and nearly half of U.S. wheat exports.
The stalemate in contract talks in Oregon and Washington state and management’s failure to win approval of its offer, fueled speculation that grain shippers might impose a lockout of union members in a bid to keep terminals operating with replacement workers.
The ILWU has not asked its members to authorize a strike, nor has it set a strike deadline or made mention of a walkout. The union urged the shippers to return to the bargaining table.
Talks have foundered over numerous work-rule changes sought by the companies to improve efficiency, but opposed by the ILWU as onerous give-backs ultimately designed to break the union.
The Pacific Northwest Grain Handlers Association, which represents the shipping companies and the grain terminals they own, said in response to rejection of their contract offer that employers were “reviewing their options.”
The ILWU has said the shippers have hired a Delaware-based company that specializes in providing security and replacement workers in labor disputes.
The U.S. Coast Guard said last week it was preparing to establish buffer zones to keep union-related protests from interfering with navigation around two of the ports seen as most likely to be caught up in waterborne labor unrest.
The possibility of a labor showdown in the Northwest is just the latest in a series of union disputes to hit U.S. ports.
The U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts are bracing for a strike threatened for Dec. 30 by nearly 15,000 union dockworkers unless shippers extend their contract.
Major sticking points to a settlement there include the future of so-called “container royalties” earned by union members based on tons of cargo moved through a port, and eight-hour workdays guaranteed under the current contract.
In a potential breakthrough on Monday, the U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service said the agency had called a meeting of the two sides in the East Coast dispute and both parties had agreed to attend.
Two days of federally mediated talks in the Northwest dockworkers dispute earlier this month failed to produce an accord. A counter offer presented by the union was rejected by management on Dec. 17.
Only weeks ago, harbor clerks and union longshoremen staged an eight-day walkout in Southern California at the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, idling much of the nation’s busiest cargo-shipping complex.
In the Northwest, the ILWU has accused management of bargaining in bad faith, citing 750 changes it said the companies were seeking to impose on labor contract terms that have stood for more than 80 years.
The shippers said the dispute centers on proposed work rule changes aimed at making their terminals more competitive, such as allowing fewer employees to load ships, allowing elevator workers to assist in ship loading and greater management discretion in hiring and staffing decisions.
“Regardless of the outcome, they [the companies] remain committed to operating” the terminals, the Grain Handlers Association said in its statement.
Votes management’s latest offer were cast Friday and Saturday by union members in Portland, Ore., and in Seattle, Tacoma and Vancouver, Wash. According to the final tally announced on Monday, 93.8 percent of those voting disapproved the proposal, as recommended by union leaders.
Waterfront labor strife in the Northwest would compound an existing slowdown in U.S. grain exports caused by the low water on the Mississippi River by making it harder for shippers to meet expectations set by the U.S. Agriculture Department, said Bob Utterback of Utterback Marketing Services, a brokerage for farmers.
Pendleton Grain Growers, for example, the largest cooperative grain dealer in Oregon, will likely overhaul its shipping plans to send more wheat, corn and soybeans to ports via railroad instead of barges, said Jason Middleton, director of grain operations for the cooperative.
Such a switch could slow shipments, most of which normally are sent up the Columbia River en route to Asia.
Utterback said the soybean market already is on edge over weakening demand following recent cancellations of purchases by China, a top importer. Other grain dealers said they saw little effect on prices absent a prolonged labor clash, lasting at least two or three weeks.
The old contract for dockworkers at the six terminals expired on Sept. 30, but under terms that remain in effect for the time being, regular work shifts for ILUW members ended at 3 p.m. local time Monday, and union workers have the day off on Tuesday for the Christmas holiday.
The shipping companies say they are seeking the same workplace rules and terms the union had agreed to after lengthy and contentious labor talks with EGT, an exporter that opened a new terminal last year in Longview, Wash.
Just another case of the Unions wanting more for less and being efficient is not what they want. Sort of like DOT workers, one in the hole and ten standing around.
Are you one of the holes they stand around
The union demands include “featherbedding”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Featherbedding
The title was in error in the headline stating….”strike looming from Maine east.” No docks east of Maine till you hit Europe. Better stated…”strike looming from the west coast eastward to Maine”. Happy Holidays!!
I say lock them out, if unions want to continue in this country they need to be more flexible with companies. Unions have way too much leverage on employers such that unions have killed entire industries in this country.
Example hostess, auto industry ( regardless of the spin on how well they are doing because GM, and Chrysler are still on life support and will die completely if they are not de-unionized)
Do some research, Hostess ran themselves into the ground not the union. And what about Ford Motor, check out the health of that unionized company.
Unions are toast. They are committing suicide.
Ford is doing ok largely because the percentage of the auto sale price committed to retirees benefits is less than the other union companies.
So true…
Even the pro-union investors in the Hostess company threw in the towel after having to deal with the dirty unions.
Sometimes labor unions are right, sometimes they are wrong; sometimes management is right, sometimes it is wrong.
However, those who consistently generalize and attack unions and their members are totally misguided. Every profession, occupation, and organization includes people who are inefficient and/or ineffective.
Ask yourself this, “why are billionaires, such as the Koch brothers, Sheldon Adelson, Donald Trump, and many others so bent on destroying unions?” They have more money than they ever will need. The answer is easy – greed and power. They want total control with no opposition.
Since the beginning of the organization of workers, they have been vilified and opposed by management and owners – labeled “reds”, “socialists”, “Marxists”, “communists”, “anarchists”, “lazy”, “destroyers of business”, and more. All working class people benefit from causes that have been championed by unions.
Here are just a few examples; there are many more:
1. Eight-hour day
2. 40-hour work week
3. Overtime
4. Child labor laws
5. Workplace safety and health laws
6. Minimum wage
7. Unemployment compensation
8. Workman’s compensation
9. Health insurance
10. Raising wages and benefits for all workers
11. Social Security
12. Equal treatment, regardless of gender, origin, appearance, religion,
sexual orientation
Do you really believe that these employee benefits would have been given by ownership without workers organizing and struggling to get them? Do you really believe that if unions or similar worker organizations are disempowered or eliminated that ownership-management will advocate for workers?
Your approach would have us all pulled down to the lowest common denominator, rather than aspiring to raise all people up to higher standards of working and living.
Unions membership is on a permanent decline.
1983 20.1%
2010 11.9%
2011 11.8%
The kinds of acts the longshoreman are doing will only accelerate the fall. Even Democrats are after gains by public sector union workers. Blame the rich if you like… but look to big city Democratic mayors like Chicago’s Rahm Emmanuel and the teachers union for the complete picture.
I am not blaming the rich, per se, but I am noting historical and current fact. There have always been and always will be power brokers in every society.That isn’t going to change.
The question is, do you prefer that middle and lower socio-economic workers have some organized power or that it revert entirely to those who held it almost exclusively until the latter part of the 19th Century.
Strikes over things like featherbedding are suicidal and really are about pure power (and money for the union) and have nothing to do with the 40 hour work week.
Even then my desires are irrelevant in face of the suicidal tendencies union have.
As I said in my original post, “Sometimes labor unions are right, sometimes they are wrong; sometimes management is right, sometimes it is wrong”.
You cn take your pick about any particular issue.
But, what about my question to you that you did not answer, “Do you prefer that middle and lower socio-economic workers have some organized power or that it revert entirely to those who held it almost exclusively until the latter part of the 19th Century?”
Again, ask yourself why there is such a concerted effort by a cadre of superrich individuals to destroy organized labor. Do you really think that they care about your or my interests or needs? They are the Robber Barons of the 21st Century.
There may be a “cadre of superrich” out to destroy unions…. but unions have been their own worst enemy. They have invited it. They have decimated the industries they dominated. They have chosen to ally themselves with one political party funding Democrats. (it wasn’t always this way.) It is only natural then for Republicans to go after them to cut off the spigot. Their weak moves have made them a target.
Personal note: Unions I know from personal experience are not always out for the workers. Sometimes a good pocket lining on the side. eh?
Your other question is loaded and presumptuous and not worthy of an answer therefore.
Hmmm, a prolonged dialogue is pointless because you duck a fundamental question that I ask, decrying it as “loaded and presumptuous”. The question is reasonable and the statement has ample evidence to support it.
While I certainly have my point-of-view, I have not indicated that either the unions are always correct, nor that the business side is always wrong.
However, you are decidedly 100% partisan. “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” (Soren Kierkegaard). Also, considering the comments that you make, it is ludicrous to accuse me of making “loaded” questions or statements.
From which of the following, or their expansion or derivatives, have you, your family, friends, or neighbors ever benefitted? Which are you prepared to give up? These things didn’t happen of their own accord and, with your one-dimensional view, they can much more easily disappear.
1. Eight-hour day
2. 40-hour work week
3. Overtime
4. Child labor laws
5. Workplace safety and health laws
6. Minimum wage
7. Unemployment compensation
8. Workman’s compensation
9. Health insurance
10. Raising wages and benefits for all workers
11. Social Security
12. Equal treatment, regardless of gender, origin, appearance, religion,
sexual orientation
Another time, perhaps……………..
No Your question assumes things are true that are not. That makes it presumptuous.
Edit: You accuse me of being a partisan yet you frame your question in partisan terms. Then you try to inoculate yourself by saying things like “unions make mistakes” There is a name for that.
Here’s the problem. The organized worker power that you speak of is purposely trying to dismantle the economy, and use tools like extortion to push not only businesses but also push the president to use power that he legally does not have. Last time I checked, extortion is still a crime.
Yes Komrade.
None will be happy until all are reduced to nothing but consumers of foreign goods financed by dollars that are backed by the ?good? word of the US government and Barack Obama, through endless extensions of unemployment payments.
Glorious workers unite!
Your comment is steeped in the propaganda name-calling that I cited in my post. That, alone, says all that is needed about the amount of thoughtful discussion that you are either able or willing to have. It is indicative of someone who has no substantive comment to make.
So, what positive contributions do you make to society?
Unions are a thing of the past.
When the last of the great scam artists are disabled in the public service unions, as will undoubtedly be done, the pendulum will have made the entire circuit.
Thoughtful discussion over.
You need to do some research, and really understand the essence of communism before renouncing it.
Well said, cheesecake and yowsa should be thankful for the wages and benefits they recieve thanks to the struggles of the unions. But, sheep will always follow the easy path.
If workers want higher wages and more benefits, they should have stayed in school and chosen a different profession. A dock worker shouldn’t be making as much as a engineer or a doctor. If you think otherwise, you’re a communist.
You left a few things out on #12. You forgot to add: “Protect the stupid, lazy,ignorant and otherwise,unproductive worker who should have been fired years ago.” This alone covers about half most unions membership. The dumber they are, the easier they are to dazzle with union bs. ..
Good Ole Unions. Unions are are soon to be a thing of the past.
Union leaders won’t go away without a fight. For them, it means tearing the country apart, including the very same people they represent.
Have you given any thought as to who you are going to blame for everything when those evil unions are gone? The filthy rich are winning their war against unions, with a lot of help from dim witted working stiffs that fail to realize they are cutting their own throats. They are down to 7% of the workforce in America now. No coincidence that the wages for the working men and women in America are in the toilet at the same time. If you think falling wages and the destruction of the middle class is a good thing, keep crapping on unions.
20 more years and they will be history…
The fact that the contracts have been in effect for 80 years tells me they are outdated and do not reflect the times. Let them strike, replace them and keep moving forward if they insist on contracts that don’t reflect the times.
The mind set is all wrong the unions say they won with hostess there are 18,500 people out of work yet the organization that is supposed to represent them say they won.Hopefully for the sake of union workers every where they won’t win to many more.
“93.8 percent of those voting disapproved the proposal, as recommended by union leaders.” …..that’s called communism you stupid greedy union f–ks. Our country’s economy is in the schitter, Obama is already trying to steal money from businesses, and now these greedy f–ks are trying to steal more. F–k that.
Anytime a union forces a business to hire or retain more people than they need for the job, they are WRONG. Period
Unions don’t even allow union members to voice their own opinion, or cast their own vote. Union members are forced to do what union leaders want them to do. That is called COMMUNISM. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
Like communism, unions prevent innovation and efficiency.
People who claim that unions aren’t communists don’t understand the concept of communism. Read the Communist Manifesto. You will find no differences.
Unions,…to hell with them all. They are all useless.