Some preview of the likely positions to be taken during contract negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), which started May 10 in could be gleaned from two video interviews recently conducted by Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles. 

The first, which aired April 12, was with ILWU International President Willie Adams and ILWU Coast Committeeman Frank Ponce De Leon. The second, broadcast May 6, was with Jim McKenna, president and CEO of the PMA. While all three expressed confidence that an agreement would be reached, they conceded there would be “difficult” issues. Among these are certain to be the wrangle over automation at the West Coast ports.

Asked about the timing of a May 2 release of an enthusiastically positive new study on port automation, McKenna said the report was released because it was finished, and there was nothing significant about the date of release. 

The study, authored by University of California, Berkeley, Professor Michael Nacht and commissioned by the PMA, found that “automation has not reduced job opportunities for dockworkers, as many workers have traditionally feared.” Further, automation has “delivered meaningful benefits for shippers and consumers, members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), as well as the environment,” the PMA said in a statement.  

Read more: Automated Ports See West Coast Dockworkers Clock More Hours

A 2008 ILWU labor deal provided employers with the right to deploy fully mechanized and robotic-operated marine terminals, a provision that remains in place. But, as it began to be implemented in 2019, the union balked, galvanizing large crowds to show up at Los Angeles City Hall and at harbor commission meetings to protest.

The ILWU sent a letter March 10 to Theresa Dau-Ngo, director of transportation and master planning at the Port of Long Beach, sharply criticizing the revised draft “Port Master Plan” update, released Jan. 21. 

On the subject of automation, the letter, from Ramon Ponce de Leon Jr., Joe Gasperov and Daniel Miranda, all presidents of the ILWU, stated: “Automated equipment is not necessarily environmentally friendly, not more cost effective, and not more efficient in terms of supporting higher cargo throughput at the port when compared to human-operated equipment. All automation does is replace labor costs (payroll dollars that are immediately reinvested into local, state and federal economies) with capital costs, giving corporations more control of terminal operations.” 

The PMA/Berkeley report found that throughput per TEU per acre is 44% higher at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach’s automated terminals because that equipment stacks containers higher and closer together, making for quicker transfer to trains and trucks. It also found that paid ILWU hours at the two automated terminals rose 31.5%, more than twice the 13.9% growth rate at the non-automated terminals. The registered ILWU workforce in Los Angeles and Long Beach grew 11.2% compared to 8.4% for the other 27 West Coast ports.

Watch: How Are AI and Robotics Changing Logistics?

Ponce de Leon hit back, saying in a statement that there was no overall increase in productivity at the ports, and that port management was conducting “just a shell game to mask the human cost of job destruction.”

Industry observers expressed puzzlement at the continued pushback on automation, as the 2008 contract contained detailed provisions designed to make it more palatable to the union, including lifetime benefits for workers who were laid off due to automation. “They agreed to all these conditions voluntarily, with extraordinary benefits,” said one industry expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Show me another industry that has provided those safeguards!”

The expert theorized that the real concern was longer term. “I think they’re not worried so much about the current jobs, but more about their children and grandchildren. They want to know: Will there be jobs for them down the road?” he said.

Asked by Seroka in the video whether the labor side of the negotiation had more leverage, McKenna said, “Labor always has leverage. We’re a regulated monopoly. The only people who do work in the 29 West Coast ports are ILWU members, so there’s always a lot of leverage on this contract.” 

Read more: Less Hiring, More Re-Skilling: The Long-Term Solution to Supply Chain's Labor Problem

However, noting the ongoing congestion at West Coast ports, and the big surge of cargo from China predicted after lockdowns there are eased, McKenna said increased volumes would “put leverage on both of us.”

In his video interview, the ILWU’s Adams noted the extraordinary willingness of port workers to adapt and even put their lives at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic, to keep cargo flowing. Adams said of the negotiations, “There’s adults on both sides of the table. This is a process. Our country’s president said he believes in collective bargaining. We will get an agreement.”

“There will be no further disruption to a fragile supply chain,” McKenna said. “We’re going to get to the table, get a contract and get an agreement without further disruption.”

The current ILWU contract expires July 1. The last major ILWU strike in Southern California was in 2014-15, causing significant cargo disruption at some of America’s busiest ports.

Some preview of the likely positions to be taken during contract negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), which started May 10 in could be gleaned from two video interviews recently conducted by Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles. 

The first, which aired April 12, was with ILWU International President Willie Adams and ILWU Coast Committeeman Frank Ponce De Leon. The second, broadcast May 6, was with Jim McKenna, president and CEO of the PMA. While all three expressed confidence that an agreement would be reached, they conceded there would be “difficult” issues. Among these are certain to be the wrangle over automation at the West Coast ports.

Asked about the timing of a May 2 release of an enthusiastically positive new study on port automation, McKenna said the report was released because it was finished, and there was nothing significant about the date of release. 

The study, authored by University of California, Berkeley, Professor Michael Nacht and commissioned by the PMA, found that “automation has not reduced job opportunities for dockworkers, as many workers have traditionally feared.” Further, automation has “delivered meaningful benefits for shippers and consumers, members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), as well as the environment,” the PMA said in a statement.  

Read more: Automated Ports See West Coast Dockworkers Clock More Hours

A 2008 ILWU labor deal provided employers with the right to deploy fully mechanized and robotic-operated marine terminals, a provision that remains in place. But, as it began to be implemented in 2019, the union balked, galvanizing large crowds to show up at Los Angeles City Hall and at harbor commission meetings to protest.

The ILWU sent a letter March 10 to Theresa Dau-Ngo, director of transportation and master planning at the Port of Long Beach, sharply criticizing the revised draft “Port Master Plan” update, released Jan. 21. 

On the subject of automation, the letter, from Ramon Ponce de Leon Jr., Joe Gasperov and Daniel Miranda, all presidents of the ILWU, stated: “Automated equipment is not necessarily environmentally friendly, not more cost effective, and not more efficient in terms of supporting higher cargo throughput at the port when compared to human-operated equipment. All automation does is replace labor costs (payroll dollars that are immediately reinvested into local, state and federal economies) with capital costs, giving corporations more control of terminal operations.” 

The PMA/Berkeley report found that throughput per TEU per acre is 44% higher at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach’s automated terminals because that equipment stacks containers higher and closer together, making for quicker transfer to trains and trucks. It also found that paid ILWU hours at the two automated terminals rose 31.5%, more than twice the 13.9% growth rate at the non-automated terminals. The registered ILWU workforce in Los Angeles and Long Beach grew 11.2% compared to 8.4% for the other 27 West Coast ports.

Watch: How Are AI and Robotics Changing Logistics?

Ponce de Leon hit back, saying in a statement that there was no overall increase in productivity at the ports, and that port management was conducting “just a shell game to mask the human cost of job destruction.”

Industry observers expressed puzzlement at the continued pushback on automation, as the 2008 contract contained detailed provisions designed to make it more palatable to the union, including lifetime benefits for workers who were laid off due to automation. “They agreed to all these conditions voluntarily, with extraordinary benefits,” said one industry expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Show me another industry that has provided those safeguards!”

The expert theorized that the real concern was longer term. “I think they’re not worried so much about the current jobs, but more about their children and grandchildren. They want to know: Will there be jobs for them down the road?” he said.

Asked by Seroka in the video whether the labor side of the negotiation had more leverage, McKenna said, “Labor always has leverage. We’re a regulated monopoly. The only people who do work in the 29 West Coast ports are ILWU members, so there’s always a lot of leverage on this contract.” 

Read more: Less Hiring, More Re-Skilling: The Long-Term Solution to Supply Chain's Labor Problem

However, noting the ongoing congestion at West Coast ports, and the big surge of cargo from China predicted after lockdowns there are eased, McKenna said increased volumes would “put leverage on both of us.”

In his video interview, the ILWU’s Adams noted the extraordinary willingness of port workers to adapt and even put their lives at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic, to keep cargo flowing. Adams said of the negotiations, “There’s adults on both sides of the table. This is a process. Our country’s president said he believes in collective bargaining. We will get an agreement.”

“There will be no further disruption to a fragile supply chain,” McKenna said. “We’re going to get to the table, get a contract and get an agreement without further disruption.”

The current ILWU contract expires July 1. The last major ILWU strike in Southern California was in 2014-15, causing significant cargo disruption at some of America’s busiest ports.