Longshoremen Talks to Continue This Week; Some Proposals Made Last Week

Discussions on a labor agreement between the International Longshoremen's Association and the U.S. Maritime Exchange are to continue this week, the USMX said. It said the talks this week will mainly involve Container Royalty payments.

USMX said talks last week did not reach any agreements. USMX "presented a comprehensive proposal for a new contract," it said, but that "was quickly rejected" by the ILA Wage Scale delegates. At one of the small committee meetings, USMX said, "the ILA presented a counterproposal, which was taken under advisement by USMX."

No other details were made available by either side. Last week's small committee meetings were facilitated by representatives of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, USMX said.

Meanwhile, the National Industrial Transportation League urged President Obama to get involved if there is a longshoremen strike (here). NITL President Bruce Carlton said the "likelihood of a strike increased significantly" last week with the union authorized a strike. He said that "raises a real possibility that thousands of U.S. companies including manufacturers, retailers, farmers and others will be unable to move necessary supplies and products vital to their businesses" and "elements of our national transportation system are already recovering from an eight day work stoppage earlier this month in the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach." If there is a port shutdown, Carlton said, "we respectfully ask you to be prepared to immediately put into place measures within your authority to continue operations and services while more time is secured to reach an agreement through collective bargaining."