Shutdown Announced for the Port of Oakland

Despite the fact that the Secretary of Labor, Thomas Perez, has stepped in as mediator for the on-going contract negotiations, troublesome news continues to flow out of the West Coast, specifically regarding the Port of Oakland. The AgTC reports: the PMA has advised that ILWU Local 10 has announced they will now hold their regular Stop Work Meeting on the first shift of Thursday, February 19th, instead of the usual second shift. Therefore, there will be NO WORK from 08:00 – 17:00 hours, and, since there is no night shift, the port will be effectively shut down on Thursday, February 19th.

Peter Friedman, AgTC Executive Director states, “Closing the Port of Oakland for a day this week, when the congestion has already backed up the agriculture supply-chain and is jeopardizing our ability to be a dependable supplier to global marketplace, is not helpful, to say the least. We had hoped for a more positive reaction to the Secretary’s arrival.”

We will continue to monitor this situation and provide updates as we receive them.