ICTSI still has no services agreement with Hanjin and continues with a labor management model that impedes terminal operations
PORTLAND, OR (DECEMBER 13, 2013) – Yesterday, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber announced that all of the work associated with maintaining reefers (refrigerated containers) at Terminal 6 at the Port of Portland will be assigned to workers represented by ILWU Locals 8 and 40. Prior to this, a small portion of this work had been performed by port employees. Governor Kitzhaber’s announcement marks a step toward the resolution of one aspect of the ongoing issues that plague ICTSI, the Philippines-based global terminal operator that began its first venture in the United States in 2010 when it leased Terminal 6from the Port of Portland.
“The men and women of the ILWU appreciate the assignment of work as required by our Master Contract with PMA member company ICTSI and the PMA member carriers such as Hanjin,”said Leal Sundet, Local 8 Longshoreman and ILWU Coast Committeeman. “But in order to normalize things at Terminal 6,it’s incumbent on ICTSI to improve labor relations and negotiate reasonably with Hanjin to secure a fair terminal use agreement.”
ICTSI inherited the Port’s Terminal Use Agreement with Hanjin when it took over operations at Terminal 6. That agreement expired a year ago, and negotiations on the terms of a new agreement have stalled over ICTSI’s insistence on charging Hanjin excessive service rates and eliminating the throughput arrangements Hanjin had with the Port.
Independent of negotiations over a new terminal use agreement with Hanjin, ICTSI imported a model of labor relations at Terminal 6 that has severely hindered terminal operations. ICTSI’s labor management model is authoritarian and intimidation-based. The company’s systematic use of employer complaints, legal claims, and NLRB charges to threaten and control workers is without parallel historically among Pacific Maritime Association member companies. Worker morale at Terminal 6 is at an all time low.
“The members of Local 8 and Local 40 want Terminal 6 to be as productive as it can be, but that requires labor and management working together toward a common goal,” said Dane Jones, ILWU Local 40 Business Agent. “As a representative of the workers that are at the terminal everyday helping ICTSI makes its profits, I really hope that ICTSI takes to heart the initiative of the Governor and the message that it needs to find a way to improve morale with its Longshore and Clerk workforce.”
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s Coast Longshore Division represents the interests of approximately 25,000 men and women working on the docks in 30 ports on the West Coast of the United States. The ILWU was formed in 1934, and the Coast Longshore Division negotiates a coast-wide collective bargaining agreement with the approximately 75 waterfront employers that comprise the Pacific Maritime Association.
— ILWU Coast Longshore Division News Release