Both parties faulted for slowdown on docks

By Justin Pritchard
Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — The Justice Department blamed both dockworkers and shipping companies for lower productivity at West Coast ports, but said yesterday neither party deserved sanctions because of its conduct after a 10-day lockout.

The government's decision not to target the dockworkers' union is a blow to the association of shipping companies, which asked prosecutors to intervene on allegations that longshoremen were deliberately slowing the pace of work as retaliation during a bitter contract dispute.

The announcement came as the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association resumed federally mediated bargaining.

Spokesmen for the sides did not have immediate comment on the documents filed by Justice Department lawyers. A court meeting was scheduled today.

"The PMA and ILWU concede that there has been a drop in productivity, but dispute the causes," prosecutor Mark Quinlivan wrote in a filing made yesterday afternoon. "The United States believes that there is credible evidence that both the PMA and ILWU are at least partly responsible for this drop."

Quinlivan said prosecutors did not have enough evidence to recommend that U.S. District Judge William Alsup penalize either side. The judge has broad discretion to sanction either side if he determines they are violating his order to resume work at a "normal pace."

The filing also noted "signs of improvement" since Alsup imposed the 80-day "cooling-off" period that reopened the ports Oct. 9 after the association locked out workers for 10 days.

Meanwhile yesterday, after a week's break, the two sides renewed face-to-face talks with federal mediator Peter Hurtgen.

Shipping companies offered dockworkers a pension package that won't likely be comfortable enough to end their protracted dispute.

The union says retirement benefits must be sweetened in exchange for the introduction of computerized cargo tracking systems that will make dockside work more efficient but cost around 400 union jobs in the short term.

In early October, the association offered a 25 percent pension increase over five years — a proposal that would bring the maximum annual retirement benefit to about $50,000 for union members with 35 years on the job.

The union reportedly has sought annual benefits approaching $70,000 for the most experienced workers.