
A Mediterranean Shipping Co. is reportedly at odds with a machinists’ union over terminal duties. The dispute in Seattle is reportedly among the main reasons that contract negotiations for all West Coast dockworkers have dragged on for months. Mediterranean Shipping Co. is ranked No. 5 on the Transport Topics Top 50 list of the largest global carriers.
The world’s largest container carrier disagrees with another party over how to proceed on a key issue in ongoing contract talks with the union representing 22,000 dockworkers at U.S. West Coast ports. Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) filed a motion in late October with the National Labor Relations Board urging SSA Marine Inc. to assign tasks at the Port of Seattle’s Terminal 5 to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers disagrees with MSC. It has claimed it’s responsible for those tasks — which encompass connecting moored vessels to shore-based electricity while docked in a process known as “cold ironing.”
The main issues of conflict involves MSC accusing the machinists’ union of threatening “economic action” against SSA. “That threat directly implicates MSC, because it is MSC’s vessels that call T5 and would be at the center of this dispute,” the Geneva, Switzerland-based carrier said.
The ILWU and the Pacific Maritime Association, which acts as a broker for SSA and MSC, have been negotiating a new contract for dockworkers across California, Oregon and Washington since May 10. The ILWU has been working without a contract since their previous pact expired July 1.