Shippers Lock Out West Coast Longshoremen

FYI: In the midst of war mongering, IMF protests, and Critical Mass rides, this news might slip through the cracks. VERY SERIOUS implications if the longshoremen strike. They need our support.


The association representing shipping lines decided Friday to lock out longshoremen at all West Coast ports until Sunday morning as contract negotiations deteriorated.

The 36-hour "cooling-off period," which will immediately curtail the flow of goods across the nation, was announced after the Pacific Maritime Association accused the longshoremen's union of slowing down the pace of work as a tactic to gain leverage in increasingly acrimonious talks.

The association's board met Friday morning and unanimously agreed to shutter the ports, according to president Joseph Miniace. The lockout was scheduled to begin Friday evening.

Miniace called it "a very, very tough decision," but one that the association had to make because the union was bargaining in bad faith.

"It's the very last thing we wanted to do," Miniace said. "But the union forced us into this."

A spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union said that union negotiators wanted to keep talking. The union learned of the lockout Friday morning from association negotiators when the two sides met for talks.

"Miniace showed the same disrespect for the union he has since the beginning of these talks," union president James Spinosa said. "He is unilaterally taking the action of closing all ports and bears full responsibility for its effects on the American economy."

The disruption could stanch the flow of products from Asia just as importers are rushing to distribute goods for the holiday season. The association has said that a coastwide labor disruption could cost the U.S. economy around $1 billion per day. The ports handle more than $300 billion in imports and exports each year.

"At this point we are hopeful the two parties will come back to the bargaining table in good faith," Department of Labor spokeswoman Sue Hensley said. "We are monitoring this very closely."

The crisis was foreshadowed Thursday evening when the association said longshoremen were slowing the pace of work at ports in Los Angeles, Oakland, Portland, Ore., Seattle and Tacoma, Wash.

The union had issued a directive earlier Thursday telling the 10,500 workers it represents at all 29 major Pacific ports to work in strict accordance with all safety and health rules.

The union says that five longshoremen have died in West Coast ports since mid-March, and that the crush of cargo has made the docks an even more chaotic and dangerous workplace.

Spinosa said work rates have hummed along at record levels in recent weeks -- but that longshoremen wouldn't continue to cut corners and risk their safety if the association wouldn't bargain in good faith.

The association has consistently said that if it determined workers were slowing down their pace on purpose, there would be a lockout.

On Friday, the association reported that productivity in some ports had dropped by as much as 90 percent.

In Oakland, the association said, one of the massive cranes that typically unloads 30 containers each hour averaged just three containers overnight. It cited other examples along the coast.

"ILWU members are effectively striking while working, causing the threat of economic hardship on four million American workers whose livelihoods depend on these ports, as well as the thousands of companies whose cargo is being held hostage at the terminals," Miniace said.

The two sides have been bargaining over a new contract for months, but talks have steadily deteriorated. The talks crumbled this week over the question of how to implement new technology, an issue shipping lines have stressed they must resolve before signing a new contract.

The union says it doesn't oppose new technology, but wants guarantees that positions created by technological advances are union covered.

The association says a growth in trade will translate into more union jobs over time, but the union shouldn't dictate that it gets every new job created by new technology.