Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

newsworthy

Retail groups seize "Kumbaya moment" and urge ILA, management to make peace on East, Gulf Coasts

Separate pleas come within 48 hours of contract settlement out west.

The nation's two biggest retail trade associations, looking to strike while the iron of waterfront labor-management harmony is still warm, yesterday asked dockworkers and shipping executives on the East and Gulf Coasts to end their long-simmering contract dispute. If left unresolved, the dispute threatens to disrupt operations at 13 of the nation's ports.

Writing separate letters but conveying similar messages, the National Retail Federation and the Retail Industry Leaders Association urged the International Longshoremen's Association and the United States Maritime Alliance to come to terms before Dec. 29, the day a 90-day extension of their current contract expires. The two sides agreed to an extension to avert a possible work stoppage when their contract expired Sept. 30.


The pleas from the retailers come two days after clerical workers and management at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach agreed on a six-year contract and ended an eight-day strike that virtually shut Los Angeles, the nation's busiest seaport, and curtailed business at Long Beach, the second-largest.

In the letter, NRF said a fast resolution of the dispute in the East and on the Gulf is critical to prevent further disruptions to a seagoing supply chain already buffeted by the ILA-USMX fight; Superstorm Sandy, which closed the Port of New York and New Jersey; and the strike at Los Angeles and Long Beach.

"We understand and recognize that there are tough issues that need to be resolved," NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay wrote. "The issues will only be resolved, however, by agreeing to stay at the negotiating table until a final deal is reached. Failure to reach agreement will lead to supply chain disruptions which could seriously harm the U.S. economy."

Sandra Kennedy, president of RILA, wrote that the inability for the two sides to come to terms by year's end would severely disrupt shipping plans for the spring buying season in the United States. A work stoppage, she wrote, "would not only result in hardships for retailers and their customers, but also for the ports and the millions of workers that count on an uninterrupted supply chain to earn their living."

The ILA and USMX remain at loggerheads, with neither side willing to accede to the other's core demands. USMX says the ILA has failed to consider adopting any changes to archaic work rules at the 13 ports and that the union reaps the benefits of millions of dollars in pay and benefits for time not worked. The ILA accuses management of forcing the union to give up an eight-hour work guarantee that has been standard practice for years and wanting to radically change contract language governing the payment of worker overtime. Neither side was available to comment on whether the contract resolution on the West Coast would influence the future direction of the negotiations.

Talks are scheduled to resume next week under the supervision of the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service (FMCS), an independent government agency tasked with keeping labor-management peace. FMCS officials had flown to Los Angeles after being asked by labor and management to mediate their dispute. However, the six-year contract had essentially been agreed to by the time the mediators got involved.

Worries over a possible shutdown in the East and on the Gulf prompted some retailers during late summer to start diverting deliveries to West Coast ports to ensure they were in U.S. commerce in time for the holidays.

Jonathan Gold, NRF's vice president for supply chain and customs policy, said importers began shifting their destinations in November for cargoes due to reach the U.S. in January. Those plans, Gold said, have not changed because they dealt with cargo arriving after the holidays.

Decisions to shift deliveries in anticipation of a work stoppage in the East were made well in advance of the breakdown of negotiations at Los Angeles and Long Beach and the subsequent strike, Gold said. Those talks broke off in October. The strike was called by clerical workers on Nov. 27.

The Latest

More Stories

U.S. map with drought risk

Everstream Analytics quantifies how climate risk affects supply chains

Supply chain risk analytics company Everstream Analytics has launched a product that can quantify the impact of leading climate indicators and project how identified risk will impact customer supply chains.

Expanding upon the weather and climate intelligence Everstream already provides, the new “Climate Risk Scores” tool enables clients to apply eight climate indicator risk projection scores to their facilities and supplier locations to forecast future climate risk and support business continuity.

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

packaging supplies plastic films

Innotex Packaging launched from merger of three companies

The investment firm LongueVue Capital has bundled three shipping product companies together to create Innotex Packaging Solutions, calling it an integrated flexible packaging solutions provider that unites Summit Plastics, ClearView Packaging, and Fredman Packaging.

According to New Orleans-based LongueVue, the “strategic rebranding” brings together the complementary capabilities of these three companies to form a vertically integrated flexible packaging leader with expertise in blown film production, flexographic printing, adhesive laminations, and converting.

Keep ReadingShow less
Stampin’ Up!’s Riverton, Utah, distribution center

Stampin’ Up!’s Riverton, Utah, distribution center

Picking reimagined

What happens when your warehouse technology upgrade turns into a complete process overhaul? That may sound like a headache to some, but for leaders at paper crafting company Stampin’ Up! it’s been a golden opportunity—especially when it comes to boosting productivity. The Utah-based direct marketing company has increased its average pick rate by more than 70% in the past year and a half. And it’s all due to a warehouse management system (WMS) implementation that opened the door to process changes and new technologies that are speeding its high-velocity, high-SKU (stock-keeping unit) order fulfillment operations.

The bottom line: Stampin’ Up! is filling orders faster than ever before, with less manpower, since it shifted to an easy-to-use voice picking system that makes adapting to seasonal product changes and promotions a piece of cake. Here’s how.

Keep ReadingShow less
autostore AS/RS at toyota materal handling site

New AutoStore AS/RS at Toyota Material Handling’s DC will increase parts volume and fulfillment speed

With its new AutoStore automated storage and retrieval (AS/RS) system, Toyota Material Handling Inc.’s parts distribution center, located at its U.S. headquarters campus in Columbus, Indiana, will be able to store more forklift and other parts and move them more quickly. The new system represents a major step toward achieving TMH’s goal of next-day parts delivery to 98% of its customers in the U.S. and Canada by 2030, said TMH North America President and CEO Brett Wood at the launch event on October 28. The upgrade to the DC was designed, built, and installed through a close collaboration between TMH, AutoStore, and Bastian Solutions, the Toyota-owned material handling automation designer and systems integrator that is a cornerstone of the forklift maker’s Toyota Automated Logistics business unit. The AS/RS is Bastian’s 100th AutoStore installation in North America.

TMH’s AutoStore system deploys 28 energy-efficient robotic shuttles to retrieve and deliver totes from within a vertical storage grid. To expedite processing, artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced software determines optimal storage locations based on whether parts are high- or low-demand items. The shuttles, each independently controlled and selected based on shortest distance to the stored tote, swiftly deliver the ordered parts to four picking ports. Each port can process up to 175 totes per hour; the company’s initial goal is 150 totes per hour, with room to grow. The AS/RS also eliminates the need for order pickers to walk up to 10 miles per day, saving time, boosting picking accuracy, and improving ergonomics for associates.

Keep ReadingShow less
US Bank truck shipments Q3

U.S. Bank: truck freight shipments and spending slow their decline

Truck freight shipments and spending continued to contract in the third quarter, albeit at a slower pace than earlier this year, according to the latest U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index.

“The latest data continues to show some positive developments for the freight market. However, there remain sequential declines nationwide, and in most regions,” Bobby Holland, U.S. Bank director of freight business analytics, said in a release. “Over the last two quarters, volume and spend contractions have lessened, but we’re waiting for clear evidence that the market has reached the bottom.”

Keep ReadingShow less