Change in Lunch Breaks at 2 Southern California Ports Creating Cargo Delays
Longshore workers at Southern California’s two major ports have decided to eat lunch together at the same time. It seems like a nice way to enjoy down time with your colleagues, but it is angering shippers and truckers now stuck in long lines to pick up or unload cargo containers while workers chow down.
Normally, longshore workers at the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach stagger their lunch breaks to make sure someone is around to load or unload containers from waiting trucks. But starting March 15, dockworkers decided to change their dining habits and leave at the same time.
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Now terminals shut down for at least one hour at noon and another hour at dinner time, keeping frustrated cargo container truck drivers waiting longer.
Port observers believe the lunch schedule change is in reaction to the drawn-out, 10-month-long contract negotiations between the union representing 22,000 longshore workers and their employers. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union, representing the workers, and the Pacific Maritime Association, comprising 70 terminal operators employing the dockworkers at 29 West Coast ports, have been talking in San Francisco since May 2022 to negotiate a contract that expired July 1.
The uncertainty surrounding the contract negotiations comes at a time when shippers are negotiating their annual contracts with maritime companies that own and operate the cargo container vessels. New contracts determine shipping rates and where cargo containers land for the next year. Many are deciding to avoid the West Coast and opt for East Coast ports.
“We want to see some normalcy returned to the harbors,” said Matt Schrap, chief executive officer of the Harbor Trucking Association, whose members collect cargo at the ports. ”We want shippers to have confidence despite the challenging business environment in California. Now there are additional things making them avoid this gateway. We want the cargo to land here.”
Even before contract negotiations hit a snag, shippers started avoiding the two ports because there was a traffic jam of ships anchored off the Southern California coast in late 2021 and early 2022 as imports surged following the COVID-19 pandemic factory shutdowns.
In early 2022, there were 109 cargo container vessels anchored or drifting off the coast waiting for a berth to unload and pick up freight. Cargo containers were stacked on the docks for as long as eight days waiting to be picked up. Rail yard container dwell times peaked at 11 to 12 days. Most of that kind of logjam has been cleared, but warehouses in Southern California are filled to the brim with merchandise.
A few years ago, about 40 percent of all cargo containers coming from Asia were unloaded at the two ports. That has dipped to 36 percent, port experts said. Gene Seroka, the executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, recently shared at a press conference that he has been crisscrossing the country to win back business to Southern California.
So, the lunch break issue isn’t helping matters. “They kind of sprung it on everyone,” said one port observer, who wished not to be identified.
Willie Adams, the ILWU International president, issued a statement saying that, “The ILWU-PMA contract allows dockworkers to take a lunch break just like everyone else. Longshore workers in Los Angeles and Long Beach are working every day, according to the terms agreed upon with the PMA. Terminal operators, however, open and close their gates at will and limit their hours of operations when they are supposed to be open around the clock, 24/7.”
The union pointed out that dockworkers don’t get paid during lunch breaks, and that there have been adequate appointment times to pick up cargo because terminals are operating at approximately 75 percent of capacity due to decreased volume. Cargo container volumes for the first two months of this year are down 30 percent at the Port of Los Angeles and off 25 percent at the Port of Long Beach compared to the same period last year, which was a record year.
The Pacific Maritime Association issued its own statement noting the ILWU contract provides employers the right to assign staggered shifts during meal periods. But beginning this month, Local 13, which is the local for the Southern California longshore workers, stopped complying with that contract provision. “As a result, longshore workers at the ports of L.A. and Long Beach are not working the terminals between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. and 10 p.m. and 11 p.m., creating significant delays. Because the contract is not in place, there is no option for the PMA to arbitrate the matter and require the union to man the terminals continuously without interruption,” the PMA said.
Businesses bringing in goods to the two ports have become so frustrated with the delays that on March 24, nearly 240 trade organizations signed a letter sent to the Biden administration urging a resolution to the contract negotiations. The signees included the National Retail Federation and the American Apparel & Footwear Association.
“It is imperative that the administration work with the parties to quickly reach a new agreement and ensure there is no disruption to port operations and cargo fluidity,” the letter said. “As we have witnessed, significant cargo flows have shifted away from the West Coast ports because of the uncertainty related to the labor negotiations. While there certainly are other issues impacting the West Coast ports, many cargo interests have expressly stated that they shifted cargo as a result of the negotiations.”
No one is quite sure what is putting a wrench into the contract negotiations because both sides have agreed not to talk about the matter. Obviously, longshore workers want to see a salary increase in their contract, noting the shipping industry has been swimming in profits. According to the PMA, the average wage for a full-time employee was recently as much as $195,000 a year, and ILWU members pay nothing for medical insurance. But the longshore workers pointed out that in 2022, the shipping industry posted operational profits of $290 billion, according to Drewry, a maritime research consultancy in London.
One of the traditional sticking points in these negotiations has been automation. The terminal operators are pushing for it, but the longshore workers oppose it because they believe automation will lead to fewer jobs.
Shippers who have talked to Local 13 leaders said the longshore workers are sorry they have had to take this lunchtime action, but they feel the PMA is not responding to workers’ contract demands. “We gotta hit ‘em where it hurts,” one company was told.
This kind of work slowdown is reminiscent of the antagonism that took place during contract negotiations in 2002. Longshore workers staged a slowdown, and the terminal operators locked out dockworkers for 10 days, shutting down ports along the entire West Coast. Former President George W. Bush had to invoke the rarely used Taft-Hartley Act, citing threats to the nation’s economy, to get the ports open again.
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