PMA warning over labour negotiations

James McKenna said that because the PMA and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) have been busy implementing the new contract, they have not formally discussed the potential changes.

This, he said, invites outside intervention because the process is slowed down each time talks are held when a new change to a contract is proposed.

Mr McKenna suggested that future bargaining might be more productive if the negotiators around the table focused on the big issues such as wages, pensions and health care.

This is because he said that there are many more people involved nowadays that are affected by disagreements of this magnitude.

Operators he said are still feeling the effects of the crippling labour stoppages that hit US west coast ports before a resolution was reached in February of this year.

Mr McKenna was addressing the annual conference of the Intermodal Association of North America on the eve of the planned talks by the ILWU about extending its East and Gulf contract until 2025.

The ILWU is apparently interested in getting an early start on the issue before the current contract is due to expire in 2018. That is probably a very sensible idea considering how long previous talks have taken.