A threatened dockworkers strike has been averted — at least for this year — as both the International Longshoremen’s Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance have agreed to extend talks through December, a federal mediator announced Thursday.
“I am pleased to announce that at the close of today’s productive negotiation session, in which progress was made on several important subjects, the parties have agreed to extend the collective bargaining agreement due to expire on Sept. 30 for a 90-day period through Dec. 29,” said George H. Cohen, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.
After talks broke down last month between the ILA and the alliance, which represents management at 14 deepwater ports between New York and Texas, Cohen coaxed both sides back to the table in hopes of averting an imminent work stoppage.
“In taking this significant step, the parties emphasized that they are doing so ‘for the good of the country’ to avoid any interruption in interstate commerce,” Cohen said, adding the extension will provide the parties an opportunity to focus on the outstanding core issues in a deliberate manner apart from the pressure of an immediate deadline.
The negotiations, which will continue under the auspices of the mediation service, will focus simultaneously on the Master Agreement as well as local agreements.
Talks between the dockworkers and management initially dissolved Aug. 22, less than half an hour into what was to have been a three-day session, prompting ILA president Harold Daggett to tell the Journal of Commerce “It looks like we’re going to have a strike” when the contract expires Sept. 30.
With no new negotiations planned, the mediation service stepped in to try to bring both parties back to the bargaining table.
Those talks began this week.
A strike at the Port of Savannah could idle some 1,500 dockworkers, as well as short-haul truck drivers, stevedores, line handlers and other related workers.
Savannah, the fourth busiest container port in the country and second largest on the East Coast, has already seen some diversion of cargo to the West Coast as a precautionary measure, said Curtis Foltz, Georgia Ports Authority executive director.
Foltz was encouraged by today’s news.
“We are pleased both parties have agreed to extend their contract and continue negotiations,” he said. “We remain confident that an agreement will be reached before the new deadline.”