News & Commentary June 5, 2023

[Omaha Steve]

https://onlabor.org/june-5-2023/

By Morgan Sperry

Morgan Sperry is a student at Harvard Law School and also serves as OnLabor's Social Media Director.

In today’s News and Commentary, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and port officials negotiate, and the WGA strike continues.

Over the weekend, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) continued to push for a fair and equitable contract with the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA). Noting that PMA members and terminal operators made a record $510 billion during the pandemic while ILWU workers put their lives on the line to maintain service, workers across West Coast ports are pushing for a contract that passes on to them some of those unprecedented economic gains. The PMA, meanwhile, claims that the ILWU has “effectively shut down” ports in Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Oakland—which manage approximately 40 percent of all U.S. cargo imports from Asia—as negotiations have stalled. Echoing the talking points deployed during last year’s railway strike, the PMA has called upon the White House to intervene, citing possible economic losses in the magnitude of $500 million a day.

FULL story at link above.