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The ILWU has issued a statement saying it wants to keep management at the negotiating table in order to finish an agreement that is "extremely close."
"We’ve dropped almost all of our remaining issues to help get this settled - and the few issues that remain can be easily resolved," said ILWU President Robert McEllrath.
The ILWU promised to keep cargo flowing, despite what it termed as the "massive, employer-caused congestion crisis" that delayed shipping for most of 2014.
The union statement is the latest sally in a war of words between the ILWU and the Pacific Maritime Association. They have been in talks for seven months to come up with a new contract for up to 20,000 longshore workers at 29 West Coast ports. Both sides have blamed each other for the crippling cargo congestion that has plagued the coast for the past three months.
Management says the majority of the cargo congestion is due to dockworkers deliberately slowing down the work pace at West Coast ports. The union says it is not orchestrating a slowdown, and that the root causes include a shortage of truck chassis and the advent of mega container ships.
This week, the PMA announced its "best offer" to the ILWU, saying that employers would shut down the ports within 5 to 10 days if a deal isn’t reached.
In a Wednesday teleconference, Jim McKenna, PMA president and chief executive officer, outlined the terms of a five-year contract, which included 3
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percent annual wage increases. He said the employers’ offer meets the International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s two biggest demands: maintenance of their high-end health benefits and jurisdiction over maintenance and repair of truck chassis.
McKenna also said the union has recently made new demands, insisting on changes to the local arbitration system that would give them the ability to unilaterally remove arbitrators who rule against them.
"We're not considering a lockout," McKenna said on the conference call. "What I'm really saying is that this system will bring it to a stop. Once that happens, we really don't have a choice."
The ILWU said this is the second time in recent memory that the employers have threatened to close ports at the final stages of negotiations. They said the union has not engaged in a port strike over the West Coast longshore contract since 1971.
"Closing the ports at this point would be reckless and irresponsible," said McEllrath.
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