Management and labor running the nation’s East and Gulf coast ports agreed to extend contract negotiations for 90 days late Thursday, just 10 days ahead of a deadline. Failure to reach an agreement or extend the deadline by Sept. 30 could have triggered work stoppages that would have snarled retailers’ imports for the holidays.
“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 September 30, 2012 for a ninety (90) day period, i.e. through December 29, 2012,” reads a joint statement issued by the International Longshoremen’s Association and George H. Cohen, director of Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services (FMCS) for the U.S. Maritime Alliance, which represents port management companies. “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.”
This 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 on the Master Agreement will be conducted during the same time frame as negotiations for local agreements. The negotiations will continue under the auspices of the FMCS.
“Due to the sensitive nature of these high profile negotiations, we will have no further comment on the schedule for the negotiations, their location, or the substance of what takes place during those negotiations,” concludes the Sept. 20 statement.
