In a world contending with no end of economic troubles, a fresh source of concern now looms: the prospect of a confrontation between union dockworkers and their employers at some of the most critical ports on earth.
The potential conflict centers on negotiations over a new contract for more than 22,000 union workers employed at 29 ports along the West Coast of the United States. Nearly three-fourths work at the twin ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, the primary gateway for goods shipped to the United States from Asia, and a locus of problems afflicting the global supply chain.
The contract for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union expires at the end of June. For those whose livelihoods are tied to ports — truckers, logistics companies, retailers — July 1 marks the beginning of a period of uncertainty.
A labor impasse could worsen the floating traffic jams that have kept dozens of ships waiting in the Pacific before they can dock. That could aggravate shortages and send already high prices for consumer goods soaring.
Some port workers accuse the longshoremen of adding to the chaos at the ports in the lead up to their contract negotiations, boosting their leverage with the terminal operators while stymying the flow of cargo for everyone else.
“Every time there’s a contract up, things slow down,” said Anthony Chilton, 55, who drives a truck hauling containers between the ports and warehouses of Southern California. “We always blame the longshoremen. They slack off, take breaks, call in sick.”
Among those who work on the docks, such depictions fuel resentment. The longshoremen say they have no intention of slowing or halting work that is at once economically vital, physically exhausting and dangerous; work that they have pursued uninterrupted through the worst pandemic in a century.
“When everybody else was shutting down, we didn’t stop,” said Jesse Lopez, the secretary and treasurer of the ILWU Local 13. “We knew that the American people needed their products.”
Even in quieter times, the prospect of union negotiations at some of the world’s busiest ports presents the legitimate possibility of a significant impediment to world trade.
With ports jammed up and Americans dealing with inflation, the longshoremen grasp that their leverage may be potent. An impasse or a strike could deal another shock to the global economy already dealing with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s new covid restrictions on industry.
The dockworkers have moved unprecedented volumes of cargo during the pandemic, even as at least two dozen succumbed to covid-19, according to the union. They are aware that many of the shipping terminals in Southern California are controlled by global carriers that have enjoyed record profits while increasing cargo rates — a fact cited by President Joe Biden in his recent State of the Union address as he promised a “crackdown” to alleviate inflation.
With ports now capturing attention in Washington, some within the shipping industry express confidence that negotiations will yield a deal absent a disruptive slowdown or strike.
“There’s too much at stake for both sides,” Mario Cordero, executive director of the Port of Long Beach, said during a recent interview in his office overlooking towering cranes and stacks of containers. “There’s an incentive because the nation is watching.”
But others in the industry cite history as a cautionary tale. The last time the union’s contract expired, in 2014, the result was turmoil at the ports. This time, odds for a deal without drama are “50-50,” declared Jim McKenna, the chief executive of the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents the shipping terminals in talks with the union.
“The last four contracts ended up in some sort of disruption,” he said.
Major retailers that import products from Asia have been ordering extra goods as a hedge against a breakdown in contract talks, while stockpiling their wares at newly developed storage yards inside the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, said Sepehr Matinifar, vice president of commercial operations at Pacific Terminal Services, which operates the overflow yards.
Walmart alone has room for 4,000 shipping containers there, he said.
“There are concerns that if there is a strike, they are not going to have access to their cargo,” said Matinifar, straining to make himself heard over the clattering boom of heavy equipment depositing metal boxes onto the pavement.
Still, he expressed confidence that a deal would be achieved. If the unions push too hard, he said, the shipping carriers will move cargo to fast-growing ports on the Atlantic like Savannah, Ga.
“If they don’t come to a compromise, then freight will get permanently diverted to the East Coast,” Matinifar said.
Animating contract talks is the popular notion that the longshoremen represent a privileged class within the supply chain, using the union to protect their ranks — a source of resentment among other workers.
“They treat us like we’re nobodies,” said Chilton, the truck driver. “The way they talk to us, they’re very rude.”
The dockworkers are some of the best-compensated blue-collar workers in American industry. So-called class A longshoremen, who have pensions and benefits along with guaranteed hours, routinely earn more than $100,000 a year. Even “casual workers” — those guaranteed no shifts — begin at more than $32 an hour.
“You get in here, you’re not going to want to go anywhere else,” said Lopez, secretary of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 13, as hundreds of workers gathered before dawn inside a union hall near the Port of Long Beach on a recent morning, waiting to select their daily assignments. “You’re going to get a check every Friday because there’s work.”
