Mediator: Dockworkers, East Coast ports making ‘progress’ in labor negotiations

Federal mediators called in to resolve a labor dispute involving East and Gulf Coast ports said Thursday that dockworkers and management were making “progress” in their talks.

The statement, from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), comes at the conclusion of three days of negotiations between the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) and the AFL-CIO-affiliated International Longshoremen's Association (ILA).

The groups had nearly reached an impasse at the end of last year that would have resulted in a massive work stoppage that would have shut down 14 ports, to the dismay of business groups in Washington.

USMX and ILA agreed instead to resume talks under the supervision of the federal mediation service this month.

FMCS Director George Cohen said Thursday that the recent sessions have been fruitful. 

"The United States Maritime Alliance and the International Longshoremen's Association conducted negotiations during the three day period January 15-17, 2013,” Cohen said in a statement.  “In these negotiations the parties made progress and have agreed that the negotiations will continue under our auspices."

Cohen said the FMCS could not reveal further details about the talks "due to the sensitive nature of these high profile negotiations."

Retail groups including the National Retail Federation (NRF) have pressured the dockworkers and port managers to come to an agreement, arguing that a work stoppage would cripple a vital cog of the U.S. economy.

The federal mediation service is similarly intervening in a separate labor dispute between workers and employers at ports on the West Coast. Those discussions are being held between AFL-CIO-affiliated International Longshoremen and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor Employers Association group that represents port managers in southern California.

---