Excerpts from the Journal of Commerce:
International Longshoremen’s Association President Harold Daggett warned of a possible ILA strike if the union can’t secure acceptable terms in a new contract.
“I’m not threatening to strike, but you’ve got four hurdles to jump over,” Daggett told an audience at The Journal of Commerce’s 12th Annual Trans-Pacific Maritime Conference in Long Beach on Tuesday.
He identified those hurdles as technology and automation, union jurisdiction, chassis and overweight-container issues. “We are going to really try to make it work … We are trying our best to avert a strike,” Daggett said.
The ILA and USMX plan to open negotiations this month in Tampa after the union’s 200-member wage scale committee hashes out contract demands.
Bob McEllrath, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union on the West Coast, said the ILWU would support the ILA’s goals in this year’s negotiations.