S.S.S. In November 2020, app-based ride-share delivery services Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and Instacart launched a ballot measure, Proposition 22, to the tune of $200 million, to maintain the independent contractor classification of their workforce. Container wait for rail is a little over 8 days for the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. 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 dont come to a compromise, then freight will get permanently diverted to the East Coast, Mr. Matinifar said. But supporters argue that California, while moving to expand abortion access, should also protect this other form of reproductive choice. When the contract expired, so did its "no strike" clause, said Peter Tirschwell, vice president of maritime, trade and supply chain at S&P Global Market Intelligence. googletag.pubads().collapseEmptyDivs(); 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. As a result, were more fluid and have the capacity to handle additional cargo here in Los Angeles.. Some of the younger independents are choosing to do something else, either find a job in another industry or leave California entirely to truck elsewhere, Aboudi said. Wanting to avoid the crippling effects of work slowdowns and stoppages that occurred with the 2014-2015 negotiations, the ILWU approved a three-year contract extension through July 2022 after a vote in which every registered West Coast longshore worker had the opportunity to cast a ballot. These are not quiet times. And, according to a Teamsters statement, the new contract includes more flexible time-off provisions. Two other key unions, meanwhile, held off on voting whether to accept the initial deal. Her father was a longshoreman. The democrats at it again and your vote this law been in the making for sometime now, no more making that extra cash and the government putting everybody on the same playing field ,and I just heard new jersey and others will be adopting this as well, my homeboy runs out of Illinois and got hit with this also . read more. No more CPM (Cents Per Mile) pay or by the load pay. But were working with stakeholders, Seroka said, using data through our Port Optimizer system, and continuing to stay close to all parties to make sure that any disruption is minimized.. This ends the current industrial action at the port terminals. googletag.pubads().collapseEmptyDivs(); As the convoy moved south on the 710, drivers fanned out across all lanes, bringing traffic to a crawl. Clarissa has covered all aspects of the trucking industry for 14 years. As contract talks approach, she pushes back against the notion that the union poses a threat to the global economy. Theres 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. Subscribe to CalMatters free daily newsletter to get news and commentary that holds your elected leaders accountable. NE - SAE: $3,017 WoW 0.49% MoM 7.14% By Mike Wackett 22/03/2022 Average vessel waiting times for berth and labour have improved significantly at the San Pedro Bay ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in the past few weeks, halving the number of queueing ships to below 50. window.googletag = window.googletag || {cmd: []}; First, the bill will offer a 70,000-strong massive workforce to carriers and large transport corporations that they can easily tap into, imposing substandard wages and mediocre, if any, benefits at the discretion of their investors and stockholders. Access unmatched financial data, news and content in a highly-customised workflow experience on desktop, web and mobile. Under normal conditions, that number should be zero, Seroka said. But lingering disputes over time-off policies reached a fever pitch on Wednesday, when one union rejected that tentative contract and authorized a work stoppage days ahead of Fridays strike deadline. The Democratic Party, in the form of the AB5, delivered such an accommodation to the Teamsters, who seek to recruit members and increase their dues base. David Kerendian, who owns Tower Textile Inc., a small Los Angeles.-based importer, says if labor talks turn ugly he is stuck because he can't afford to ship through alternate ports. The picketing takes place as West Coast dockworkers have been working without a contract since July 1. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) employer group have been in negotiations . With the contract of union workers at West Coast ports nearing expiration, the prospect of a labor impasse threatens another shock to the global economy. You can find our submission guidelines here. Slync.ios promise to pay employees falls flat after 2 months without wagesSome of LandAirs 450 employees terminated via Zoom video callVermont-based LTL carrier LandAir reportedly ceases operationsSlync.io blames liquidity issues after employees go month without pay, These drivers need to each form their own independent corporations. It can be brutal. So-called Class A longshoremen, who have pensions and benefits along with guaranteed hours, routinely earn more than $100,000 a year. International Committee of the Fourth International. Local 13. A group of truckers protesting a state law limiting the use of independent-contractor drivers held a convoy protest through the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex on Wednesday, July 13, snarling some traffic in the area. But revelations on Wednesday of a possible strike over labor negotiations threatened to deal a blow to a supply chain still struggling to recover from a pandemic-era cargo boom that nearly crippled it. She said maintenance of equipment was spotty, producing frequent breakdowns, while the terminals were often understaffed two problems that could be fixed with more spending. }); googletag.cmd.push(function() { June 1, 2022 Kevin Baxter. But many public chargers dont work. Tell us what your working conditions are like and what you are fighting for. Talks are scheduled to continue on a daily basis until an agreement is reached. Executives at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach exhaled Thursday, Sept. 15, when national railroad and labor representatives announced a tentative deal to avert a potential work stoppage that officials said would have wreaked havoc on the already stressed supply chain. "Both sides understand the strategic importance of the ports to the local, regional and U.S. economies, and are mindful of the need to finalize a new coast-wide contract as soon as possible," PMA and ILWU ahead of the contract expiration at 5 p.m. PDT Friday (0000 GMT Saturday). City News Service is a regional wire service covering Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties. googletag.enableServices(); LOS ANGELES Last year, and early into 2022, the Port of Los Angeles emerged as a major bottleneck in the U.S. supply chain. Listen to . In the 27 years since, his wages have allowed him to buy a three-bedroom house with a swimming pool, where he raised two daughters. Walmart alone has room for 4,000 shipping containers there, he said. The contracts apply to about 15,000 ILWU members, including longshore workers, marine clerks and foremen employed at 29 West Coast ports, from Washington state's northernmost port of Bellingham to San Diego, near the border with Mexico. Port Talks. The port also has upwards of 17,000 cargo containers waiting upwards of nine days to get moving, Seroka said. googletag.cmd.push(function() { California has administered 74,907,314 vaccine doses, and 75% of eligible Californians are fully vaccinated. said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka, said Jim McKenna, president and CEO of the Pacific Maritime Association, Frank Ponce De Leon, speaking for union workers at the ports, the statewide, congressional and state legislative seats, in the first mayoral primary in more than a century, shouldering responsibility for residents concerns about crime, telling the Bay Area News Group editorial board, his plan of sending as much as $800 to registered car owners, a Sunday appearance on CBS Face the Nation, the Democratic Party isnt doing enough to stand up for abortion rights, April 27 letter to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, its first rolling blackouts in nearly two decades, argues Mark Allen Gabe Cu, a Stanford University student, writes Jasmine Prasad of the Student Senate for California Community Colleges, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. And that means theres some unpredictability about it.. The options for independent truckers are therefore to either pursue a trucking authority, move out of state, or sell their truck and become a company driver. Other workers, however, pushed for the law, saying they were being denied benefits by being classified as outside contractors. // Los Angeles Times, Is Fresno County avoiding its responsibility on industrial planning? Meanwhile railroad workers have voted by 99.5 percent in favor of a strike, but the Biden administration is likely to intervene and appoint an emergency board to prevent a walkout. As congestion at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports is finally showing signs of easing, industry experts are looking ahead to next year's contract negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA). As of 2022, the port, together with the adjoining Port of Los Angeles, are considered the least efficient ports on the planet. Delays caused by a flood of cargo last year continue to create . googletag.cmd.push(function() { AB5 was signed into law in 2019 and went into effect on January 1, 2020. To the north, multiple trucking companies hauling containers in and out of the Port of Oakland have been notified by owner-operators that they are planning a work stoppage on Monday. The law stems from the California Supreme Courts decision against Dynamex Operations West Inc., a package and document delivery company. Rail facilities in Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City and other cargo hubs are jammed, much like port terminals were last year when record high volumes of cargo sat on anchored ships awaiting pickup. Los Angeles / Long Beach / Port Oakland Truck Driver strike Truckers transporting import and export containers in Los Angeles and Long Beach are planning to go on strike on Wednesday (July 13) in protest against a . Dockworkers stopped work for eight days, which gummed up trade flows and siphoned an estimated $8 billion from the Southern California economy alone. Mainly, the court ruled that the proposition limited the legislatures constitutional power to extend workers compensation benefits to app-based drivers. Talks are expected to go on until July 1, when the current agreement expires, or possibly beyond as the two sides work to strike a deal between employers who operate marine terminals and shipping lines and dockworkers. Animating contract talks is the popular notion that the longshoremen are a privileged class within the supply chain, using the union to protect their ranks a source of resentment among other workers. Those include the US's two busiest ports: the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach, as well as the Northwest Seaport Alliance near Seattle and the Port of Oakland. in communication and M.S. // San Francisco Chronicle, What Israel, Las Vegas and other places can teach SoCal about using a lot less water. A top ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Cuba on Wednesday and held talks with President Miguel Diaz-Canel as well as former Communist Party leader Raul Castro, Tass news agency said. For those whose livelihoods are tied to ports truckers, logistics companies, retailers July 1 marks the beginning of a period of grave uncertainty. 2017: ILWU contract extension vote promises five years of US West Coast labor peace. The law requires the following: For many independent truckers, these tests are difficult to meet. The union countered that employers were the ones creating problems. Many of the 45,000 rail employees laid off during the coronavirus pandemic, meanwhile, havent returned and quickly training new hires has been challenging, rail workers said during an August town hall. googletag.defineSlot('/21776187881/fw-responsive-main_content-slot2', [[468, 60], [728, 90], [300, 100], [320, 50]], 'div-gpt-ad-1665767472470-0').defineSizeMapping(gptSizeMaps.banner1).addService(googletag.pubads()); Labor negotiations between dock workers and the West Coast port operators have hit a snag, with experts speculating that clashes over automation are partly to blame. Photo by Brandon Richardson. This week, Newsom is set to release a highly anticipated revision of his January budget blueprint, including an updated estimate of the surplus Senate Democrats project could reach $68 billion. We are aware of the issues surrounding the requirements of AB5, and we are working with our drayage partners and other stakeholders to ensure that goods can be delivered safely and quickly through the supply chain.. googletag.defineSlot('/21776187881/fw-responsive-main_content-slot2', [[728, 90], [468, 60], [320, 50], [300, 100]], 'div-gpt-ad-1665767737710-0').defineSizeMapping(gptSizeMaps.banner1).addService(googletag.pubads()); Weve nearly eliminated vessel backlogs, improved truck dwell times, and are now using data more effectively than ever before, Seroka said. Youre complaining about my wages, thinking that my wages are the source of inflation, and we dont deserve it, she said. A bill freeing up swaths of land for affordable housing could be in jeopardy because of a fight between labor unions. Despite reassuring statements from port authorities that we are working with our drayage partners and other stakeholders to ensure that goods can be delivered safely and quickly through the supply chain, the protests could cause supply chain disruptions, especially within a very inflammable context of industrial unrest. Photo by Brandon Richardson. Theres still much more work for all of us to do.. Freight rates have been impacted by the global Covid-19 recovery and the demand outpacing supply, he said in an emailed statement. Its not difficult to see what an interruption of service during the critical peak shipping season would have meant both here and for the greater national supply chain.. The Teamsters unionization campaign has nothing to do with defending workers: It serves the strategy of the Democratic Party to promote unions and integrate them more directly into the state apparatus and corporate management. 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