[PEN-L:30639] lockout

["Ian Murray" <seamus2001@xxxxxxxxx>]

Friday, September 27, 2002 · Last updated 4:26 p.m. PT
Longshoremen Locked Out on W. Coast
By JUSTIN PRITCHARD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

SAN FRANCISCO -- 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.

---

On the Net:

http://www.ilwu.org/main.htm

http://www.pmanet.org/