Shippers submit productivity data
By Nancy Cleeland
Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES — The shipping industry has turned over to the U.S. Justice Department what it calls proof of a "concerted, systematic work slowdown" by the longshore union since West Coast ports were reopened under a federal court order Oct. 9.
Despite an injunction calling for work to resume at "a normal and reasonable rate of speed," the Pacific Maritime Association said, productivity per worker dropped by up to a third in the first week after the docks reopened.
The PMA said the slower pace has cost the shipping lines and terminal operators millions of dollars and prevented the clearing of a massive backlog of containers.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union said the claim, which could ultimately lead to a citation for contempt of court, was "completely baseless" and part of a campaign by the maritime association to discredit and weaken the union.
Justice Department officials would not comment. However, they made available a letter sent to the shipping group and the union Tuesday, asking for further documentation by noon tomorrow and warning each not to destroy any relevant evidence, including internal e-mails.
"These are serious allegations," wrote Washington, D.C.-based Deputy Assistant Attorney General Shannen W. Coffin. "I wish to afford both parties the opportunity to substantiate their positions before considering the possibility of seeking judicial relief."
Coffin could decide to seek a contempt order from the court, which could lead to penalties as well as further, more specific court orders.
The Pacific Maritime Association filed the eight-page letter containing the charges on Friday, but it was not made public until yesterday.
The PMA said it told the Justice Department that average productivity per worker dropped 34 percent in Oakland, Calif.; 29 percent in Portland, Ore.; 27 percent in Seattle; 19 percent in Tacoma, Wash.; and 9 percent in Los AngelesiLong Beach.
The productivity drop does not measure the production lost when workers do not show up or when crews are dismissed for lack of key personnel.
A terminal operator in Los Angeles, who asked not to be named, conceded that high volume and congestion complicate the task of sorting out whether or not there is an orchestrated slowdown. "To me, it's easy to see it's there," he said. "But maybe not to a judge."
The shipping lines locked out union workers last month after alleging that the ILWU participated in a series of slowdowns that cut productivity by as much as 50 percent. Under pressure from retailers and manufacturers, President Bush invoked the rarely used Taft-Hartley Act to seek the federal injunction that forced the ports to reopen.
The union and shipping group, in contract negotiations since May, have deadlocked over the implementation of new technology that would eliminate jobs. Talks with a federal mediator are scheduled to resume today.
Since the ports reopened, the union said, congestion and spot shortages of labor and equipment — and not a union mandate — have slowed the pace.
"They're playing a game," said Ramon Ponce de Leon, president of ILWU Local 13 in Los Angeles, which filed a grievance last week claiming that employers were not ordering sufficient workers in order to sabotage the union's efforts to clear out the port.
The PMA, however, said it had clear evidence of ILWU slowdowns. It said key equipment operators have not been dispatched to many terminals, forcing the terminal operators to send home entire crews of workers who depend on that equipment.
It also noted wide swings in productivity from terminal to terminal and shift to shift, indicating that workers can move equipment at a normal speed when they so choose.
