SAN FRANCISCO (BRAIN) — If parts inventory at your favorite distributors seems a little spotty, it is more than likely due to the freight slowdown at West Coast ports. Container ships are backed up waiting to unload, and suppliers say freight is running four to six weeks behind schedule.
Contract negotiations between dockworkers and West Coast port owners are in their eighth month with little progress being made. Negotiations were mostly behind closed doors but a clearly frustrated James McKenna, president and CEO of the Pacific Maritime Association, took to YouTube to lay out his association's final offer (video below).
The Pacific Maritime Association negotiates and administers maritime labor agreements between port owners and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. McKenna provides a history of the current situation, noting that freight unloading in Seattle and Northwest ports is running 40 to 60 percent normal, and unloading in Southern California was also hampered due to a shortage of crane operators instigated by ILWU worker slowdowns. He then goes on to lay out the PMA's final offer of pay, healthcare and pension. So far there has been no public response from the ILWU.
