Optimism lacking in West Coast dock lockout

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SAN FRANCISCO — West Coast ports were silent yesterday as shipping lines locked out about 10,500 dockworkers. Both union and employer representatives said it was unlikely work would return to normal today, when the lockout was supposed to end.

Longshoreman Jeff Duhagon talked on the phone yesterday as he waited outside a locked port in Oakland, Calif. The association representing shipping lines locked out longshoremen on Friday. Associated Press

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union said it simply told its members at 29 major Pacific ports to work in strict accordance with all safety and health rules, because employers were bargaining in bad faith.

By yesterday, signs of progress in contract talks were scant, and it was clear tensions had not eased.

A spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union said members would return to the docks this morning, as requested. But in a telephone interview, spokesman Steve Stallone said members would continue to work under the same safety guidelines.

In addition, he said, so-called "steady" clerks who normally report to the same job site every day would instead report to dispatch halls for job orders — leading to the possibility of clerks being assigned to unfamiliar workplaces and slowing cargo operations.

The Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping lines and terminal operators at the 29 major West Coast cargo ports, said if the steady clerks failed to report for work, and if further slowdowns were detected, it would consider the union's response a strike.

"We just talked to the union's international officers and asked them not to do those things," PMA President Joseph Miniace said yesterday afternoon. "So we will just see. If they do not give us labor, then that's a strike. And if there's a strike, the gates would be locked.

"It's in their hands at this point in time. We should be at the negotiating table and not playing childish games."

A strike by dockworkers could cripple Hawai'i's economy, which relies on shipping for about 90 percent of goods.

The lockout couldn't have been more ill-timed: The import season for holiday goods is in full swing.

The Pacific Maritime Association has said a coastwide labor disruption could ripple through the U.S. economy at around $1 billion per day. West Coast ports handled more than $300 billion in cargo during the past year.

In the 36 hours the docks are closed this weekend, about 30 ships will have to wait outside the berths of major Pacific ports, according to the association. Another 70 won't be able to leave. All told, hundreds of millions worth of goods will sit idle, the association said.

Contract talks crumbled last week over the question of how to implement new technology on the waterfront. The union wants guarantees that positions created by the introduction of more efficient computer information systems are union-covered, while the association says the union shouldn't dictate that it gets every new job.

Meanwhile, exporters worried their time-sensitive goods would start to spoil before they left shore.

Vision Logistics Group feared its 49,000 apples destined for Colombia and Costa Rica would go bad, since no one was around to check whether their refrigerated containers were working.

Trucking company owner Jose Beltran, whose drivers lose $100 for each delivery they cannot make while the gates are locked, said he had two containers of vegetables that would not be leaving for Hawai'i.

An association representing importers and exporters said it would press for federal intervention if the situation deteriorated.

"It's one thing if those two sides want to play brinksmanship," said Robin Lanier of the West Coast Waterfront Coalition. "But it's another thing if they jump off the cliff, because they take us with them."