|
Newsletter June 2002
WILL THERE BE A LABOR DISRUPTION OR
WON'T THERE?
On July 1st, the current longshore labor
contract expires. In view of the fact that no new contract has yet been
signed, the question on everyone's mind is what is going to happen? Will
there be a slowdown? a strike? a lock-out? Truthfully, no one knows
right now but it certainly seems a bit of brinkmanship is being employed
by both sides. What we do know is the week of July 4th has traditionally
been one where the flow of cargo just about stops.
One reason, of course, is the
Independence Day holiday. A further slowdown comes as longshore workers
remember a long-ago strike and commemorate the death of a few co-workers
through Bloody Thursday, celebrated on July 5th. In short, regardless of
the status of the contract negotiations, little cargo will move from
Wednesday afternoon through the weekend.
The bigger concern is the
"trying" of the issues in the press. While no one believes a
lot of progress was made as the parties met during recent weeks, the two
sides had imposed a press blackout.
The fact that self-imposed blackout was
lifted is seen by many as a sign the situation is rapidly deteriorating.
The union is concerned about loss of jobs
despite a PMA guaranty of jobs for all current workers. The ILWU is also
claiming the PMA is trying to cut its health benefits. Given the average
cost per year is $42,000 per person, it is not unreasonable for the PMA
to want to curb that expense.
The PMA also wants increased productivity
through the use of technology. The ILWU argues the only reason to expand
the use of technology is to do away with high paying jobs. Recent
figures suggest ports in other parts of the world are able to move many
times more containers per hour with the implementation of minimally
intrusive technology. Perhaps the concern of the ILWU is their members
will have jobs but they may be less desirable? Either way, the fact that
the parties continue to meet is seen as encouraging, despite no concrete
progress.
For those of us waiting for the outcome,
one concrete thing step can take is to write to your Member and Senator
and ask him or her to urge the parties to stay at the bargaining table
until they reach a resolution. The economy is hardly in a position to
suffer a strike or a lock-out, much less a work slowdown.
GSP Renewal
H.R. 3009 has been approved with
amendments by the House of Representatives. The bill now includes
renewal of GSP for non-AGOA goods from September 30, 2001 to the end of
2002. As the Senate passed a different version of the bill, a conference
committee will have to iron out the differences before the legislation
is submitted to President Bush for signature.
H.R. 3009 also includes the fix demanded
by the domestic textile industry, i.e., to qualify for CBTPA benefits,
all fabric dyeing and finishing must take place in the U.S. Fortunately,
the bill also includes the beginnings of monthly statement processing
for importers and allows offsetting in Customs audits. Customs Proposes
FDA 180 Day Conditional Release Period Customs has issued a Federal
Register notice in which it has proposed to change its regulations so
that goods subject to the FDA laws and regulations would be considered
conditionally released for a period of 180 days. In other words, at any
time during that 180 day period following Customs' release, the shipment
could be recalled by the FDA. Failure by the importer to comply with
redelivery would lead to liquidation damages being assessed by Customs
at an amount equal to three times the value of the merchandise (and more
in limited cases).
ACH Revised for Refunds
Customs has announced that importers may
now receive refund payments through ACH. For more information, contact
your customs broker.
AES Update
Census has posted a new version of the
Automated Export System software to its website at www.aesdirect.gov.
Look for Version 3.1 of AESPcLink.
|
