US Commerce Secretary joins ILWU-PMA talks
Reynolds Hutchins, Associate Editor | Feb 19, 2015 3:08PM EST
U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker has entered negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association, reflecting a ratcheting up of Obama administration pressure on both sides to reach a deal in order to end crippling West Coast port congestion.
Department of Commerce officials on Thursday confirmed Pritzker had visited with representatives from both the ILWU and PMA, which represents employers, on a trip Wednesday. She joined Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez, who was dispatched by the White House last week to help resolve the contract negotiations.
“She is back in D.C. now, but has been actively making calls to stakeholders with respect to this situation,” a Commerce Department spokeswoman told JOC.com Thursday.
Secretaries Perez and Pritzker Wednesday stressed the importance of reaching an immediate agreement before the dispute causes further economic damage, according to a Labor Department statement.
Before either Perez or Pritzker's arrival on the West Coast in the past week, the White House had balked for months in becoming directly involved publicly in the talks, having said it was confident both sides would be able to work out a deal.
The administration has been involved in the negotiations behind the scenes for weeks, however. The chief executives of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach told a local trade club in December that the mayors of their respective cities each day had a conference call with the President’s economic team to update the administration on the negotiations.
In recent weeks, however, pressure on the Obama administration appears to have helped spur the White House to act. More than a dozen lawmakers last week signed a resolution urging the president to “use all tools at his disposal,” including the Taft-Hartley Act, if there was a shutdown. Business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Retail Federation, have also urged the president to intervene.
The Taft-Hartley Act would allow the president to respond to an actual or threatened work stoppage of national importance by seeking an injunction requiring an 80-day cooling-off period and a government fact-finding panel. If the dispute remains unresolved after 80 days, the report is made public and workers vote on the employers’ last offer.
Since January, federal mediators have been involved in the ILWU-PMA negotiations, which began in June last year, but they can only facilitate an agreement, not force the parties to strike a deal.
After months of accusing the ILWU of engaging in slowdowns, the PMA earlier this week curtailed loading and unloading on nights, weekends and holidays. Vessel operations were halted coastwide over the Presidents’ Day weekend, reducing dockworkers’ ability to earn premium pay.
According to the ILWU, which denies it’s engaging in slowdown tactics, the move is an “effort by the employers to put economic pressure on our members and to gain leverage in contract talks.”
The ILWU blames port congestion on marine terminals’ inability to handle larger vessels, chassis dislocation, strong volume and other factors.
Contact Reynolds Hutchins at rhutchins@joc.com and follow him on Twitter: @Hutchins_JOC.
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