Excerpts from the Journal of Commerce Magazine:
James Capo has been working for months to calm shippers’ concerns about the impending East and Gulf Coast longshore labor negotiations. The chairman and CEO of United States Maritime Alliance emphasizes that bargaining “is a process … You have to give it time.”
That process will begin this month when representatives of USMX and the International Longshoremen’s Association meet in Tampa for an expected exchange of initial proposals on a contract to replace the one that expires Sept. 30.
Cargo interests have been watching nervously for clues to the direction of this year’s talks, the first since Harold Daggett’s election as ILA president last July. Daggett did little to reassure them with his bellicose comments at this month’s Trans-Pacific Maritime Conference.