Americas News
US Port Strike: Talks Making Good Progress
The U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) said on Sunday that labour negotiations between the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) over a master contract covering some 14,500 jobs on the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts are "making good progress," but no deal has yet been reached.
In the emailed statement, FMCS Director George H. Cohen said, "I am pleased to announce that five days of productive negotiations between the parties concluded on Saturday and that negotiations will resume next week under the auspices of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.
"Further, I wish to commend the parties for their hard work and commitment to this process. The parties are making good progress on a number of difficult issues at the full committee and subcommittee levels.
"As is our custom and practice, due to the sensitive nature of these high profile negotiations, we will have no further comment on the schedule for the negotiations, their location, or the substance of what takes place during those negotiations," he concluded.
The ILA 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, and the jobs covered by the contract in question are reported to have handled 95 percent of container shipments in 2011 in an area running from Maine to Texas.
The association says its membership needs protection from automation that threatens their jobs.
It threatened to strike as the industry geared up for increased volume for the holiday season, before agreeing to extend the collective bargaining agreement due to expire on September 30, 2012 through December 29, 2012.
