An Interesting New Show Premiered Tonight...................

America’s Port provides an unblinking view of this vibrant and colorful nerve center for global trade—the Port of Los Angeles. Get an inside look at this massive complex and the intrepid individuals charged with keeping it running smoothly and securely 365 days a year. It’s a dynamic and dangerous 24/7 operation.
-America's Port Blog


Okay, maybe I am a little biased. I watched this show tonight and it was great. If you have The National Geographic Channel. This show is going to be on regularly on Mondays at 10pm Eastern, 7pm Pacific. Then repeat at 1am ET and 10pm PT.

A Sad Note.............

A bulletin from the ILWU. It is never good to see someone killed on the job. It just goes to show that Longshoremen have one of the most dangerous jobs.

LONGSHORE WORKER KILLED AT PORT OF LONG
BEACH PORT; TERMINAL OPERATIONS HALTED

(LONG BEACH, CA) Cargo handling at one of the terminals at America's second busiest port
ground to a halt on Friday following the dockside death of Carlos Rivera, 73, a longshore worker
with more than 40 years experience on the waterfront.
“Longshore work is dangerous, but it doesn’t have to be deadly,”said Joseph Cortez, Local 13
President of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) that represents over
15,000 longshore workers at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
More than a dozen longshore workers have been killed on the west coast during the past six years.
This is the second fatality in Southern California since 2005.
“This tragedy affects the entire ILWU family,” said Cortez. “Carlos came in to the industry with
me.”
Rivera was working against a ship at the California United Terminal (CUT) at the Port of Long
Beach when he was struck and killed. Details on the cause of death are being investigated.
Union leaders met Friday with officials of the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), the Port of
Long Beach, and California United Terminals (CUT). The union is seeking an immediate
investigation of the death and will halt cargo handling at the CUT facility in Long Beach for 24
hours.
The union is currently negotiating a new contract with the Pacific Maritime Association that
covers 25,000 longshore workers at 29 west coast ports in California, Oregon and Washington.
The union is seeking stronger safety provisions to curb more than one-dozen fatalities that have
occurred during the current contract which began on July 1, 2002 and expires this July 1.

ILWU bulletin April 4, 2008 For Immediate Release

You Know When You Are...............

You know when you are looking for something and don't find it but you find something else that is even better. Well a few minutes ago I was trying to get to the PMA site to check the dispatch summary for tomorrow. Well it was down and I couldn't get there. So I googled it thinking I could get around it somehow, and I found this it is a bulletin released back in 2002 about the ILWU work slowdown. I guess it was written to upset people and turn them against the union. But starting on page two it starts to list events that are suggesting a slowdown. and I found this list funny. Here is a portion of the list.

In Portland, ILWU members refused working a grain ship, alleging a safety
concern because a U.S. Customs official, carrying a weapon, was on board inspecting
cargo.

In Los Angeles, the Union failed to dispatch adequate numbers of workers to
terminals, while in Oakland, one crane driver moved three containers per hour when the
three-year average for the vessel being worked is 30.

At the Matson terminal in Oakland today, one crane was moving 12 containers
per hour, despite averaging 30 per hour over the past three years. That ship missed its
sail schedule by at least one day.

The cargo ship, Hyundai Emperor, docked in the Port of Portland, experienced an
average of 5 container moves per hour this morning against an average of 21.68 moves
per hour. During the evening shift, this ship experienced 11.1 moves per hour.

In Tacoma, an Evergreen ship being worked at the MTC terminal is experiencing
10-12 container moves per hour against an average of 32. A K-Line vessel was
producing 11.4 container moves per hour against an average of 26.35. Maersk operations
in Tacoma were operating at 50 percent of normal today. The ILWU failed to dispatch
any labor to unload the ship during the midnight shift.

In Los Angeles/Long Beach, the Union refused to work extended shifts, violating
its ongoing agreement with PMA. In addition, the ILWU also failed to post clerk
positions in the casual hiring hall, thereby violating an arbitration award.

At the Hanjin terminal in Southern California, ILWU clerks stopped working,
alleging that a gear certification on a piece of equipment had expired, even though a 90-
day extension of that certificate was in place. The clerks then alleged erroneously that
the signatures on the extension were forged.


The whole thing after that was just great. PMA sounded like a bunch of whiners not getting their way.