http://www.3plwire.com/2008/10/10/us-ports-cargo-volume-expected-to-drop/ Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:18:27 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://www.3plwire.com/2008/10/10/us-ports-cargo-volume-expected-to-drop/comment-page-1/#comment-115321 Lower container volumes = less work for ILWU | Third Party Logistics News - 3PLwire Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:06:35 +0000 http://www.3plwire.com/?p=1249#comment-115321 [...] My colleague mentioned the NRF (National Retail Federation) report on lower yearly container volume in 2008 vs. 2007 (6.5%, to be exact). I just read an article over at American Shipper outlining the woes of ILWU labor, where “casuals”, the part time labor who pick up the extra work that full-time ILWU members can’t handle, are having a difficult time finding work as a result of lower cargo volumes: The ILWU has two generic types of workers: casual members and registered members. Casuals are part-time workers who must accumulate a set number of work hours within a certain period to qualify for a full-time registered position. Registered positions include longshoremen, clerks and foremen. Because the casuals only get extra work that cannot be filled first by full-time ILWU members, the current downturn at the ports has hit the casuals significantly harder. The nearly 9,500 ILWU casuals in Southern California have experienced the worst West Coast reduction, with a nearly 60 percent drop off in available work hours from 1.64 million hours for the first 41 weeks of last year to 687,000 hours this year. These are work levels not seen by casuals at the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports since 1999. Work available for the nearly 300 Oakland casuals has dropped by nearly 47 percent, from 28,236 hours last year to 15,186 hours this year. The last time casuals in Oakland saw this level of available work was in 2002. [...] [...] My colleague mentioned the NRF (National Retail Federation) report on lower yearly container volume in 2008 vs. 2007 (6.5%, to be exact). I just read an article over at American Shipper outlining the woes of ILWU labor, where “casuals”, the part time labor who pick up the extra work that full-time ILWU members can’t handle, are having a difficult time finding work as a result of lower cargo volumes: The ILWU has two generic types of workers: casual members and registered members. Casuals are part-time workers who must accumulate a set number of work hours within a certain period to qualify for a full-time registered position. Registered positions include longshoremen, clerks and foremen. Because the casuals only get extra work that cannot be filled first by full-time ILWU members, the current downturn at the ports has hit the casuals significantly harder. The nearly 9,500 ILWU casuals in Southern California have experienced the worst West Coast reduction, with a nearly 60 percent drop off in available work hours from 1.64 million hours for the first 41 weeks of last year to 687,000 hours this year. These are work levels not seen by casuals at the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports since 1999. Work available for the nearly 300 Oakland casuals has dropped by nearly 47 percent, from 28,236 hours last year to 15,186 hours this year. The last time casuals in Oakland saw this level of available work was in 2002. [...]

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