News
International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Caucus delegates voted last week to recommend approval of the tentative agreement reached on February 20, 2015, between the union and employers represented by the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA). The ILWU represents 20,000 dockworkers at 29 U.S. West Coast ports.
All 90 delegates to the Coast Longshore Caucus spent last week reviewing the proposed agreement line-by-line, before voting by 78% to recommend the proposal on Friday.
Copies of the agreement will be mailed to longshore union members, who will then have a chance to discuss the proposal at local union meetings. A secret ballot membership ratification vote will be the final step in the process. A final tally will be conducted on May 22. The final tally will be scheduled to be tabulated on May 22.
Meanwhile, the backlog of container ships waiting out at sea is improving at a fast clip. The number of ships anchored off the shores of Long Beach and Los Angeles decreased to nine last weekend, the lowest-ever level in the past two and half months. The vessel backlog at the Port of Oakland has disappeared and the Pacific Northwest ports of Seattle and Tacoma have been rapidly recovering from the congestion.
