West Coast Ports: Illegal ILWU Chassis Inspections
Federal agencies are asked by the chassis leasing companies and California truckers to prevent (what they say) alleged illegal ILWU chassis inspections.
From Alex Cherin, executive director of the California Trucking Association’s intermodal conference:
“We’ve definitely seen an uptick in these unnecessary inspections since the contract was ratified last month.”
From JOC:
The trucking association has warned the ILWU and PMA that when longshore mechanics pull over drivers for unwarranted inspections or verifications of ownership, they contribute to congestion at the terminals and that this is both time consuming and costly for truckers.
From DTN:
The one catch in this contract that is now causing problems for trucking companies at the port is the agreement the PMA made with the ILWU workers allowing them jurisdiction over the maintenance and repair of truck chassis. While this agreement does not allow the ILWU to inspect trucker-owned chassis, the process is creating a slowdown in trucks’ ability to enter the port. All trucks are pulled over because there is no way to immediately tell if they are privately owned. Curtis Whalen, executive director of the American Trucking Association’s (ATA) intermodal conference told DTN via phone, “The whole process is illegal and the ILWU has no legal right to stop the truckers.” Even still, Whalen said the unions continue to “do what they want,” whether it is legal or not.
The IICL (Institute of International Container Lessors) claims the ILWU contract language exempting trucker-owned chassis from inspections discriminates against the many truckers that lease chassis under long term leases. The IICL is asking the FMC (Federal Maritime Commission) to look in to the legality of the ILWU chassis inspections under the terms of a discussion agreement the commissions recently approved that allows West Coast terminal operators to cooperate among themselves in order to improve efficiency.
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