US East Coast port employers file NRLB complaint against union as strike looms By Reuters

By Lisa Baertlein, David Shepardson and Daniel Wiessner

LOS ANGELES/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Employers negotiating a labor contract at U.S. East and Gulf Coast ports on Thursday filed an unfair labor observe grievance in opposition to the union, saying these leaders refuse to renew talks forward of the threatened Oct. 1 strike.

The US Maritime Alliance (USMX) stated it filed the grievance with the Nationwide Labor Relations Board, because of the repeated refusal of the Worldwide Longshoremen’s Affiliation to return to the bargaining desk.

The six-year grasp contract between USMX and the ILA expires on Sept. 30 and the 2 sides seem like deadlocked on wage points.

The employer group stated it requested quick injunctive aid – requiring the union to renew bargaining – so {that a} deal might be finalized.

It’s unusual, however not unprecedented, for employers to make such complaints to the NLRB – an unbiased company of the federal authorities that enforces U.S. labor regulation, significantly with regard to collective bargaining and unfair labor practices.

In uncommon circumstances, the NLRB will go to court docket and ask for an injunction pending the end result of a board case, however that may take weeks to play out.

The ILA on Thursday responded, calling the USMX a poor negotiating accomplice.

“If it wasn’t for the ILA partaking in critical and productive negotiations, many of the native agreements wouldn’t have been settled over the previous yr,” the union stated in an announcement.

Earlier this week, ILA chief and chief negotiator Harold Daggett stated he had rebuffed USMX approaches.

“They name me a number of instances every week attempting to get the ILA to simply accept a low-ball wage bundle,” Daggett stated.

Sources near the talks stated the ILA requested for a wage enhance of 77% – a proportion the union known as exaggerated. Business specialists predict that the rise will likely be increased than the 32% rise gained by the West Coast longshore union final yr.

Corporations that depend on ocean delivery are more and more fearful that the ILA’s 45,000 members will strike and shut 36 ports that deal with greater than half of U.S. ocean commerce of merchandise akin to bananas, meat, prescribed drugs, auto components, development supplies and attire.

If that occurs, delays and prices may rapidly cascade, threatening the U.S. economic system within the weeks forward of the U.S. presidential election, burdening already taxed international ocean delivery networks and over time foisting increased costs on shoppers.

Economists at Oxford Economics estimated that the upcoming strike would cut back U.S. gross home product (GDP) by $4.5 to $7.5 billion, or 0.1% annualized, for each week it continues.

A strike has the potential to weigh on the October employment report at a time when the Federal Reserve is very attuned to indicators of weak spot within the labor market, they added.

The timing is politically delicate since Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris is dealing with former Republican President Donald Trump within the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 5.

A White Home official on Thursday reiterated that President Joe Biden doesn’t intend to invoke a federal regulation often called the Taft-Hartley Act to forestall a strike.

“We encourage all events to come back to the bargaining desk and negotiate in good religion,” the official stated.

“Senior officers from the White Home, Labor Division, and Division of Transportation are in contact with the events and delivering the message to them immediately.”