Labour woes add to slowdown in US box demand
The New Year is opening on a pessimistic note for US ports as labour disputes continue to drag down efficiency. On the East Coast a truce has been declared until February 6 between the dockworkers and the Maritime Alliance, which represents the employers.
At the heart of the row is the payment of what are known officially as “container royalties” but which is really compensation for trade union job losses when containers were introduced more than 50 years ago. The average payment is more than US$15,000 per worker and the employers maintain that this should have been scrapped years ago as it applied only to when containers were first used.
Dockers are said to be demanding that the amount should be increased.
The two sides are also arguing about a reduction in the seven workers needed to position each container on deck. Employers say fewer are needed, as crane technology has greatly improved speed, accuracy and safety.
On the Pacific Northwest, dockworkers have been threatening to strike at ports handling mixed exports to China and the rest of Asia. Terminal operators have reached individual agreements with groups of workers but tensions continue and amid the uneasy peace both sides say they will work together.
A window on the woeful state of efficiency has been opened at Tacoma, next door to Seattle. The Grand Alliance (NYK, Hapag-Lloyd, OOCL and Zim) moved to Washington United Terminals from Seattle six months ago in what was billed as a major coup for Tacoma.
Ship calls have increased from one a week to six a week.
The reality has been less exciting. Alec Coleman, Washington United Terminals vice- president, told the port’s harbour commissioners that productivity has failed to keep pace with costs, with volumes up 300 percent, the number of rail wagons loaded rising by 300 percent, and volume at the truck gates up 375 percent. However, labour costs have jumped 450 percent.
“We still have a long way to go to bring this terminal productivity level to the best on the West Coast,” Coleman said.
“We are still far below our target.”
The terminal has almost doubled the number of staff. The dockworkers’ union says extra people have had to be brought in from outlying areas, and new people trained.
Observers note that terminal operators and owners have almost no say in how the union chooses to arrange the workforce, which is based on inefficient and archaic practices.
One feature of this, say critics, is the separation between full-time workers, who earn an average of almost $100,000 a year plus health and pension plans, and casuals and those who are paid much less and get no benefits. Terminal operators allege that the casuals in many cases are equally capable of doing the job, but are only brought in when the complement of regulars is not enough.