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Source: Working In These Times
Source: Los Angeles Times
Source: Solidarity Center
Source: New York Times
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) is stepping up its support for hundreds of striking clerical workers represented by the ILWU in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach after employers walked out of negotiations over the weekend, despite the union’s offer to enter into marathon bargaining to resolve the dispute.
Referring to the events of Saturday night, ITF acting general secretary Stephen Cotton said: “The ILWU wants to bargain for an agreement to reopen the ports and end the strike but apparently the employers are not committed to doing what it takes to achieve a resolution. The ITF strongly condemns such unprofessional conduct, which harms the port and its working communities. We support the ILWU and are following up this dispute at every level.”
“Following high-level meetings last week, seafarers’ and dockers’ leaders are already acutely aware of this dispute, and of the negative impact of outsourcing for decent work throughout the industry they have resolved to show solidarity.” he added.
Six hundred clerical workers who have been without a contract for over two years and whose jobs are threatened by outsourcing, initiated strike...
The recent ship grounding at the Port of Prince Rupert was at least the third such recent incident, stoking fears of oil spills. An area maritime attorney who’s an expert on marine emergency planning said ‘the accident could easily have been a disaster – and had it resulted in a major oil spill, B.C. wouldn’t have been ready to respond.’
The Port of Prince Rupert is usually in the news because it is expanding again or signing a new customer. The recent news wasn’t as positive, as an incoming container ship ran aground.
According to the Prince Rupert Port Authority, the Hanjin Geneva, a 915-foot container ship, ran aground on November 20 at Prince Rupert Harbor in British Columbia after it changed course to avoid a small fishing boat and hit a sandbar. No one was hurt, and no cargo was lost.
This is at least the third accident in Prince Rupert harbor. A bulk carrier hit ground in January 2007, and a freighter touched bottom in December 2009. The harbor is deep, but the area apparently subject to a 21-foot tidal range.
Activists and attorneys are already using the incident to highlight risks of expanding Rupert to accommodate oil shipments.
“Joseph...
From the Los Angeles Times:
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has had enough. He wants round-the-clock bargaining to end the six-day-old strike at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, with the help of a mediator.
The strike has pitted the 800-member International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit against some of the world’s biggest shipping lines and terminal operators. It has shut down 10 of the 14 cargo container terminals at the nation’s busiest seaport complex.
Until it launched the strike Tuesday, the union had been working without a contract since June 30, 2010. Although talks intensified over the weekend, there have also been periods of little or no negotiations, the mayor said.
“This cannot continue,” Villaraigosa said in the terse, three-paragraph communication to John Fageaux Jr., president of the union’s clerical unit, and Stephen L. Berry, chief negotiator for the employers group.
“With thousands of members of other ILWU locals now honoring picket lines,” the strike is “costing our local economy billions of dollars. The cost is too great to continue down this failed path,” the mayor said.
The...
Source: AWU
Source: DoBetterNissan
Source: Workday MN
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