Port Labor Talks Are 'Top Priority' for Labor Department, LA Port Director Says
Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and her staff "have been working tirelessly" with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) to help the two sides come to a labor deal, Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, told CNBC June 8. Seroka said the Labor Department is talking with both sides "to keep this progress moving" after some West Coast ports experienced disruptions during the last week from work stoppages caused by the labor negotiations (see 2306050077 and 2306060077).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
"Sometimes we hit some brick walls," Seroka said, "but really from the secretary of labor's seat, this continues to be a top priority."
Seroka also discussed the impact at the ports, saying cargo isn't "moving as quickly as we would like." He also said there is some "pain being felt by the trucker. Two-thirds of all of our cargo moves in and out by truck, and we've got to get that service right."
He added that, at the moment, there haven't been "any significant moves" in container dwell times, echoing comments made last week by Flexport executive Nathan Strang, who said that the West Coast port delays are more "noise than impact" (see 2306080035). But if the labor discussions become "protracted," Seroka said that could lead to bigger problems. "I don't see that happening right now," he said.
While he said he doesn't speak for either ILWU and PMA, the two issues stalling negotiations are wages and automation, Seroka said. "We've got to work through these important issues to make sure that the dock workers who are out on the job an average of six days a week during the surge are paid what they're worth," Seroka said. He added that technology is going to "keep coming, but we cannot leave the worker behind."
Seroka also discussed the potential impact of cargo being diverted to other ports. In 2002, Seroka said, 80% of the trans-Pacific trade went through West Coast ports. Today, that number has fallen to 56%. "About 15% of our normal lift and cargo has moved to the East and Gulf Coast ports, and that's because importers and exporters were very concerned about possible job action here on the docks," Seroka said. Despite this, the ports have had "three bad days" over a very long period of negotiation, Seroka said.
"Some had been super cautious, but realistically, the cargo keeps flowing," Seroka said. "We've got to get these talks to a point where we can reach a tentative agreement between both sides."