潜在的罢工可能使纽约-新泽西港瘫痪

Possible longshormen's strike could cripple Port of N.Y. and N.J.

A possible longshoremen’s strike that could cripple the Port of New York and New Jersey and other ports on the Gulf and East Coasts is looming, threatening to idle countless workers and drive up the consumer costs as the holiday season approaches.
Contract talks broke down last Wednesday between the United States Maritime Alliance, which represents the shipping industry, and the International Longshoremen’s Association, whose 15,000 members work in deep sea ports from Halifax, Nova Scotia to New orleans, La., including nearly more than 3,000 ILA workers at terminals in Newark, Elizabeth, Staten Island and Brooklyn.
The union has called on the maritime group to come up with a last, best offer before the current contract expires on Sept. 30. But ILA President Harold Daggett has already said he believes dockworkers will end up walking off the job.
"It looks like we’re going to have a strike," Daggett, a former president of ILA Local 1804 in Newark, told The Journal of Commerce last week.
ILA officials said they were stunned when the Alliance CEO and lead negotiator, James Capo, abruptly withdrew from the talks in Florida last week after having addressed union concerns involving terminal automation and outsourcing of truck chassis maintenance, both viewed by the ILA as job killers.
"When Wednesday morning came around, Jim Capo came to Harold Daggett and said all the issues they talked about were off the table," said Jim McNamara, an ILA spokesman.
But the shippers say Daggett stalled talks by refusing to reform work rules dating back to the union’s "On the Waterfront" era, which industry and port regulators view as corrupt and inefficient.
"There are some things that we need to talk about to improve our competitiveness," said Joseph Curto, a member of the Maritime Alliance negotiating team, who also heads the New York Shipping Association, a regional group.
Curto said he was optimistic about a deal. But he warned that if cargo cannot reach consumers via the Port of New York and New Jersey, it will come by truck, rail or some other route - permanently, if it ends up making business sense.
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"If we can’t solve our problems here, cargo will find it’s way," Curto said.
The NYSA and ILA local representatives had been scheduled for regional talks today and tomorrow on a localized agreement under the master contract that was to be ironed out by the Maritime Alliance and the ILA last week, But the meetings were cancelled after last week’s talks broke off.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the port and leases terminal space to shippers, issued a statement Monday urging both sides to keep talking.
"The Port of New York and New Jersey is a major engine of economic growth, generating 280,000 jobs and over $48 billion in revenue to the region," the statement read. "The Port Authority has invested billions of dollars to develop infrastructure serving the maritime industry in the Port and is planning other significant projects such as the raising of the Bayonne Bridge. Any disruption to port activity will negatively impact the Port’s position as well as tens of thousands.

Date：2012.8.28