ILWU LOCAL 13 FILES COMPLAINT AGAINST PMA

ILWU LOCAL 13 FILES COMPLAINT AGAINST PMA    The International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s Local 13 in Los Angeles has filed formal charges against the Pacific Maritime Association, claiming that the PMA is “sabotaging productivity” on the docks of West Coast ports.
   The ILWU’s allegations were filed midweek with the Labor Relations Committee of the PMA and ILWU, a joint panel comprising representatives from the union and the PMA.
   “The PMA is systematically crippling productivity at the docks and blocking the movement of goods,” said Ramon Ponce de Leon Jr., president of Local 13.
   “The complaint focuses on the PMA’s failure to act in ‘good faith’ under its obligation to file orders for proper manpower to staff the docks. On Oct. 11, the PMA claimed the ILWU had failed to fill crane operator orders placed by one of its members, SSA (Stevedoring Association of America) Terminals LLC. Yet representatives of the PMA admit that, on that very same day, SSA neglected to call in to work 26 of its 44 on-call crane operators, effectively leaving at home the manpower they claimed to so desperately need,” a Local 13 statement said.
   SSA referred all calls to the PMA. “I don’t know the specifics of what happened on that day,” Jason Greenwald, a spokesman for the PMA, told Shippers' NewsWire Friday. “It’s unfortunate that the union is making these charges. The PMA’s concern now is to return the docks to normal conditions, and for anyone to claim otherwise is pure fantasy.”
   The PMA-ILWU Labor Relations Committee will consider Local 13’s charges, which could progress up a pyramid of assessments until a final arbitrator rules on the allegations. If unresolved, the issues could then go to federal court.