SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT (publ. 2/22/2015, pg. A4)



A story about the agreement in the West Coast ports labor dispute incorrectly spelled the last name of Peter Friedmann, executive director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition.

A labor agreement ending months of disruption at West Coast ports was reached Friday night, raising hopes that ports clogged with cargo will soon be operating normally.

The tentative agreement, which must be ratified by dockworkers, was reached between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association in the fourth day of negotiations presided over by Labor Secretary Tom Perez, who flew to San Francisco Monday at the request of President Obama.

Perez said with the economy moving “in the right direction,” the protracted port slowdown during the labor impasse was “a headwind” that worried the White House.

“It is time to get to work and they are going to do that beginning tomorrow evening when business will be restored to full capacity,” Perez said.

But unclogging the terminals will take time. They are overflowing with cargo and with dozens of ships waiting outside the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and sixteen awaiting berths in the Port of Oakland.

“Given the backlog of containers stacked up on the docks and all the ships waiting to come into port, it’s going to take weeks and weeks and weeks to get through the current backlog in order to get a normal state of congestion,” said Jock O’Connell, Beacon Economics international trade adviser.

Perez said that when he arrived, a single issue was holding up a deal. That was the process for choosing arbitrators who resolve labor disputes.

“That impasse really was a big triggering reason why I was here,” he said. “They were able through some very hard work come up with resolution that will absolutely transform the arbitration system into a better system. “

Perez said he delivered an ultimatum to negotiators: “Settle the case, settle it now, do it this week here or we’ll go to Washington next week.” He added, “One thing I’m learning as I travel around the country, there are a lot of people who don’t like Washington DC.”

The two sides released this statement: “After more than nine months of negotiations, we are pleased to have reached an agreement that is good for workers and for the industry,” said PMA President James McKenna and ILWU President Bob McEllrath. “We are also pleased that our ports can now resume full operations.”

Negotiators had raced all day Friday to reach a settlement. There was no date given for a ratification vote by rank and file members of the dockworkers’ union.

The port of Oakland’s executive director Chris Lytle said the port’s top priority is immediate resumption of uninterrupted cargo operations. “Shippers are looking to us to accelerate the flow of cargo,” Lytle said. “We owe them our best effort.”

The announcement was a cause for joy among import and export dependent industries that have been severely hampered by the slowdown at the West Coast’s 29 ports, which receive the lion’s share of imports from Asia.

About 37 percent of California’s gross product, or $742 billion, is handled by ports manned by the ILWU, according to a study for the Pacific Maritime Association. Daily port operations contributed $2.1 trillion to the U.S. economy, or 12.5 percent of the gross national product in 2013, the study found.

“We congratulate the ILWU and PMA for finally coming to agreement on a new labor contract. It is now time for the parties to quickly ratify the deal and immediately focus on clearing out the crisis-level congestion and backlog at the ports,” said a statement from the National Retail Federation.

Peter Friedmann, executive director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition, said in a statement that the organization is “extremely pleased with the news that the West Coast port labor dispute is on the verge of ending. We know that even upon ratification, clearing up the congestion will take months. And, ultimately, if U.S. agriculture is to recover, we will need to see West Coast ports become more efficient, more productive than they were before the contract expired and the disruption initiated.”

The ports have been bogged down with cargo since October when an apparent work slowdown by union workers was met with a cancellation of night and weekend shifts by the Pacific Maritime Association.

Terms of the tentative contract were not disclosed. The PMA made what it called an “all-in” offer in early February that included $40.68 an hour, up from $35.68 an hour, a 14 percent increase over six years; unchanged health benefits, and a pension increase to $88,800 a year from the current $79,920. It also agreed to continue with an arrangement in which union members inspect and maintain truck chassis used to carry cargo.

Contact Pete Carey at 408 920 5419. Follow him on Twitter.com/petecarey