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After 16 years as president of the international Longshoremen s Association, John Bowers was ready to retire. Now, facing a federal investigation of allegations that the ILA is under Mafia [...]

LOS ANGELES - The West Coast appear to be headed for an injunction that would re-open ports and force a resumption of contract talks between shipping lines and union longshoremen. [...]

WASHINGTON - West Coast longshoremen could face contempt citations for work slowdowns if a federal court orders an 80-day cooling-off period under the Taft-Hartley Act, according to Charles Craver, professor [...]

The Pacific Maritime Association has filed an unfair labor practices grievance against local dockworkers for their refusal to complete implementation of an automated dispatch system. The PMA, which represents major [...]

The federal government sued the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in a discrimination case that could force them to pay $2.75 million in damages and [...]

Columbia Grain Inc. has slapped the International Longshore and Warehouse Union with a lawsuit demanding $1.25 million in damages for alleged work stoppages, slowdowns and other actions that--the suit claims--have [...]

The union representing Powell's City of Books workers claims the bookseller fired an employee for his outspoken union support. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union told the National Labor Relations [...]

DOCKWORKERS SUE: The families of port dockworkers, demanding to be reimbursed for unpaid health claims, are suing administrators of the employee health plan for International Longshore and Warehouse Union workers [...]

The law is not necessarily what the law says; it's what the courts say it is. The same principle applies in West Coast ports, where the next longshore contract's wording [...]

Work stoppages at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has increased the tension between the Pacific Maritime Assn (PMA) and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). West Coast ports have been hit by as many as 135 work stoppages in since 1996, angering the PMA since the stoppages cost shippers an estimated $150 mil. The work stoppage at Los Angeles and Long Beach stem from a protest of Alaskan ILWU members over their employer's refusal to fund their health care benefits. The PMA's frustration over the work stoppages has lead to its efforts to curb such stoppages by legal means. The PMA has filed several court cases against the ILWU over such stoppages and is working to make such stoppages illegal. The ILWU is asking the shipping industry to respect its established arbitration procedure and is showing its good faith by increasing the training of its members, both old and new members.

TIDEWATER Barge Lines, headquartered in Vancouver, Wash., filed a lawsuit against the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) claiming that the union established waterborne picket lines that have adversely affected [...]

The Pacific Maritime Association is suing the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) to recoup losses due to strikes conducted by the union in Los Angeles, CA. A favorable decision by the National Labor Relations Board would mean stiff fines on the ILWU and could clip its work stoppages throughout the West Coast. At the Port of Los Angeles, shipowners suffered millions of dollars in losses due to the work stoppages.

The American Trucking Assn. (ATA) threatened to sue the Pacific Maritime Assn. and the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union when the proposed contract between them will be implemented. ATA alleged that the contract will violate antitrust laws if waterfront companies will create pilot programs using ILWU drivers to deliver containers on public roads. This threat indicates the rising tensions in West Coast ports.

The International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union and the Pacific Maritime Association, normally adversaries, find themselves on the same side in a court case about to head to trial. Fourteen former [...]

The Canadian government's decision to intervene in the Port of Vancouver labor dispute bodes ill of the ability of the strike to prompt opponents to settle differences. Longshoremen have been working under an expired labor contract since Dec 31, 1992, and the port management and the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union have been unable to settle their dispute. The longshoremen's strike on Jan 28, 1994, paralyzed operations in the port, forcing the government to issue a back-to-work directive and to put the labor dispute under arbitration.

The NLRB has upheld the right of a Columbia River terminal to reduce the size of its ship-loading workforce by half. The ruling was reached following an investigation by NLRB regarding unfair labor practices allegations made by the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union against Peavey Grain Co. The probe found out that Peavey made satisfactory bargaining. The union, however, plans to appeal its case.

The International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU) expressed satisfaction over a cargo handling dispute after the Immigration and Naturalization Service sided with the union. The dispute involved the loading of 2,500 pallets of fish preservatives onto the Centurion del Atlantico, an Argentine fish-processing vessel docked at San Diego. The ILWU claimed that crew of the vessel should not be allowed the load the pallets because it constituted cargo. However, the vessel's agent claimed that the pallets were supplies for the ship and thus should not require cargo handling services.