US EAST and Gulf coast dockers have threatened to strike on December 29 after talks broke down between the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) over bonus payments made to union members for each container lifted.
Employers want to phase out bonuses, limiting them to those working in 2011 and before, yet guaranteeing payment for 25 years, but the union rejected this demanding they continue unchanged and the topic removed from negotiations.
The union said it was prepared to keep talks going if management agreed to drop their demands on limiting bonuses, but ILA vice president Bennie Holland said: "They refused. So right now, unless we hear from them, we will be on strike on December 29."
New York Shipping Association president Joe Curto said management was "willing to continue discussions" until the last minute. "There are still a few more days in this month".
A strike becomes legal after December 29 when the 90-day contract extension between ILA, the largest union of dock workers in North America, and USMX, the employers group, ends.
The union's Mr Holland said the ILA was "willing to extend the contract to February 1 and keep talking if management would be willing to take the container royalty [bonus] cap off the table and we could show them other ways to accommodate them with other adjustments that would offset" the bonus payments called "royalties".
Said USMX vice president Dave Adam: "Employers are willing to continue to bargain in good faith," but the ILA's counter proposal that royalty cap be taken off the table "was not acceptable".
PORTS
19 December 2012 - 16:50
East coast dockers threaten December 29 strike, talks end over bonus cap
US EAST and Gulf coast dockers have threatened to strike on December 29 after talks broke down
PORTS
19 December 2012 - 16:50
East coast dockers threaten December 29 strike, talks end over bonus cap
This news 7538 hits received.
These news may also interest you