Ports seek order to force dockworkers to bargaining table as strike looms at East and Gulf ports
With a strike deadline looming, the group representing East and Gulf Coast ports is asking a federal agency to make the Longshoremen’s union come to the bargaining table to negotiate a new contract
DETROIT — With a strike deadline looming, the group representing East and Gulf Coast ports is asking a federal agency to make the Longshoremen's union come to the bargaining table to negotiate a new contract.
The U.S. Maritime Alliance says it filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board alleging that the International Longshoremen's Association is not bargaining in good faith.
The alliance said in a prepared statement Thursday that it filed the charge “due to the ILA’s repeated refusal to come to the table and bargain on a new master contract.”
The ports are asking for immediate relief, an order requiring the union to resume bargaining.
In an email, the NLRB said it is investigating the complaint. It's unlikely that the board would make a decision until well after the strike deadline. The NLRB says typically it takes seven to 14 weeks to decide on the merits of a charge.
The NLRB request comes just four days before the ILA's six-year contract with the ports expires, and the union representing 45,000 dockworkers from Maine to Texas says it will go on strike at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday.
The two sides haven't bargained since June in a dispute largely over wages and a union-proposed ban on increased automation of port cranes, gates and trucks that could cost jobs.
“USMX has been clear that we value the work of the ILA and have great respect for its members,” the alliance statement said. “We have a shared history of working together and are committed to bargaining.”
The union called the NLRB filing
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