[A-List] Tragedy on the docks: White House Warns of Economic Harm

[Sabri Oncu <soncu@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Port Talks Resume; White House Warns of Economic Harm (Update3)

By Karen Gullo

San Francisco, Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Talks to end the nine- day
West Coast port shutdown resumed between cargo companies and
longshoremen as the Bush administration said the contract dispute
is harming the U.S. economy.

Representatives of shipping companies and the dockworkers union
met from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. in a San Francisco hotel today. Talks
were set to resume this evening and to continue until midnight,
federal mediator Peter Hurtgen said. A 10-day lockout may cost
the U.S. economy as much as $19.4 billion, according to a study
conducted for the carriers by consulting firm Martin Associates.

"This is a short fuse. We all know it," Joe Miniace, chief
negotiator for the shippers, said to reporters during a break in
talks. "We've got to get something done."

The dispute has closed 29 ports, stranding ships from Washington
to California. It has led to the shutdown of a California auto
plant run by General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp.
Agricultural goods are rotting on docks, the union said, and
retailers warned that Christmas sales are threatened.

"The president's message to labor and management is simple: You
are hurting the economy. You are hurting other workers and unions
across the country," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. He
wouldn't say if President George W. Bush is considering using the
Taft-Hartley Act to open the ports.

Lockout

The shutdown started Sept. 27, when shipping companies locked out
more than 10,000 members of the International Longshore and
Warehouse Union. The companies and the union have disagreed
during negotiations over carriers' efforts to use more computers
to handle some dock work. The union wants to retain control of
jobs affected by those changes.

The union asked carriers today to allow dockworkers to move
perishable items such as produce. The companies yesterday
permitted shipments to Alaska and Hawaii.

"There are grain vessels and other perishables that are just
rotting out there," said union President Jim Spinosa. "We urge
them to continue what they're doing with Alaska and Hawaii. They
need to follow it up."

Hawaiian businesses had been cut off from the U.S. mainland.
Hawaii Governor Benjamin Cayetano wrote to the shippers and the
union this week. He said the shutdown would have "a devastating
effect on the economy and morale" of Hawaii.

Ports could open for all shipments if the union would sign an
extension to its contract, which lapsed in July, shippers said.

"It's as easy as signing a three-line contract extension," said
Steve Sugerman, a spokesman for the Pacific Maritime Association,
which represents shipping companies in the talks.

Today's talks brought "some" progress, Hurtgen said this
afternoon. "Things are improving," he said.

The federal mediator joined the negotiations Thursday.