Americas News
US Port Strike: ILA, USMX Discuss Major Issues
The U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) said today that over the last two days "major issues" were discussed in the ongoing dispute between the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX).
"As a result of these discussions, the parties will have their respective committees review
their positions and analyze associated costs," said FMCS Director George H. Cohen in the emailed statement.
In the meantime, the parties' subcommittees were said to be continuing to meet in an effort to resolve additional outstanding issues.
The talks between the parties, which FMCS said last week were "making good progress", revolve around the renegotiation a $1.8 billion master contract covering some 14,500 jobs on the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts.
ILA, who says in total it represents over 65,000 longshoremen on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, Great Lakes, major U.S. rivers, Puerto Rico, and Eastern Canada, had threatened to strike when the current agreement was due to expire on September 30, 2012, a deadline now extended to December 29, 2012.
USMX says it is "imperative" that the negotiations are completed "without any disruptions to service," adding it and its predecessor organisations have successfully done so since 1977.
An alliance of U.S. East and Gulf Coast container carriers, direct employers, and port associations, USMX says the longshore workers have a "superior wage and benefits package that places them among the top-paid union workers in the U.S.," with the current contract seeing ILA members on the East and Gulf Coasts earn an average of $124,000 annually in wages and benefits.
It says it needs to introduce new technology that will increase the capacity of the ports, attract new capital, and promote growth, while the ILA says its membership needs protection from automation that threatens their jobs.
