PMA EXPECTS ILWU TO RETURN TO TALKS

PMA EXPECTS ILWU TO RETURN TO TALKS    A source close to the Pacific Maritime Association told AS+ on Tuesday that the PMA expected the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) to return to collective bargaining negotiations “in the next day or two.”
   No West Coast port saw any signs of a labor slowdown on Tuesday, the source said.
   “There was a huge outcry when the ILWU walked out of talks on Sunday. We expect them to return shortly,” said this source, who requested anonymity.    The PMA accused the ILWU in an earlier statement if being “unwilling to budge on critical issues of port modernization and technology.”
   “Every time we get close to an agreement, the PMA reneges,” the ILWU said in a statement yesterday that accused the PMA of “bait-and-switch tactics.”    The union declined to renew its old contract with the PMA, as it had on a day-to-day basis since the former pact expired July 1.    “We’re looking at this day-by-day,” the source close to the PMA said.