PMA OPENS TALKS WITH ILWU ON WEST COAST

PMA OPENS TALKS WITH ILWU ON WEST COAST    The Pacific Maritime Association on Monday opened collective bargaining negotiations with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, discussing a new three-year coastwide contract.
   “The keyword for the PMA is technology,” Steve Sugerman, a PMA spokesman said. “Most significantly, we want to introduce simple information technology at cargo gates.”
   “Modernizing our workplace is the number one priority of these contract negotiations,” said Joseph Miniace, chief executive officer of the PMA.
   “The West Coast ports have become a bottleneck in the global supply chain,” Miniace said. “It is essential that we find ways to fix this bottleneck.”
   When asked to comment about Miniace’s remarks, Steve Stallone, a spokesman for the ILWU, said, “we find it interesting that the PMA put out a press release today, just before they came over to ask that nothing be said to the media until these talks are over. On our side, we are going to honor that deal, and the union has nothing to say at this time.”
   The PMA comprises 87 domestic and international shipping companies and stevedores that operate in west coast ports. The principal business of the PMA is to negotiate and administer maritime labor contracts with the ILWU.