Excerpts from a News Tribune article titled ”Port productivity remains subpar”:
Craig Merrilees, a spokesman for the union, said the employers are unfairly scapegoating the union as the source of the lowered productivity. Merrilees said container handling worldwide has encountered major problems as a result of several factors including the shipping lines’ use of larger ships at terminals not designed for their huge capacity, the shortage of chassis on which to load those containers, and a lack of drivers to to move the containers to their final destinations.
The PMA has contended that the union members are deliberately cutting productivity as a tactic to cut back container traffic during the critical holiday season and to put pressure on employers to agree to more favorable terms.
Merrilees said that progress has been made at the subcommittee level of negotiations during the recess from main table negotiations. The results of that more focused negotiation process will likely soon migrate to the larger talks for further discuss and possible agreement, he said.