Docks on West Coast shut down indefinitely
| • | Local businesses say they've planned ahead |
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
West Coast cargo ports were shut down indefinitely yesterday as tensions reignited between shipping companies and dockworkers locked in increasingly bitter contract talks.
Associated Press
The latest dramatic shutdown came only 10 hours after the ports had reopened after a 38-hour lockout instituted Friday by the shipping companies ended yesterday.
ILWU Local 13 dockworkers in Los Angeles protested the indefinite shutdown yesterday of West Coast cargo operations as contract negotiations remained stalled.
The shipping companies said dockworkers at the 29 ports continued to stage work slowdowns, clogging various ports already backlogged with cargo.
The Pacific Maritime Association, representing more than 80 shipping companies and terminal operators, said the latest shutdown would continue until a contract deal is reached or the union signs an extension for the lapsed contract that it has been negotiating.
The Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping companies and terminal operators, has shut down all 29 West Coast ports for the second time in less than three days in a dispute with longshore workers over contract negotiations and the pace of work. Among the issues in contract talks: • Technology: Members of the association want to use new technology such as computerized cargo-tracking systems to speed cargo flow through West Coast ports. The association says this will result in the loss of several hundred jobs, but it has proposed to continue paying union members who lose their jobs because of the upgrades. The ILWU says it welcomes the new technology and sees the need. But the sticking point is outsourcing: The ILWU says it wants assurances that any jobs created through the new technology will be union jobs. • Arbitration: The sides disagree on whether a neutral outsider should decide job-related technology issues. If employees are to lose their jobs because of technology upgrades, the union wants final approval of the upgrades to go through a committee with equal union and employer representation. The association, concerned that such a committee could deadlock on many issues, wants a neutral arbitrator. • Health benefits: Employers are proposing to maintain 100 percent health benefits for union members, one of the key points sought by the ILWU. But in exchange, the association wants the union to agree to its neutral-arbitrator proposal.
The latest shutdown will have an immediate effect on the nation's economy, which relies on the Pacific ports for about half of its oceangoing cargo. It also will create a ripple effect on Hawai'i's economy, which gets more than 90 percent of its goods by container ship and where thousands of businesses and consumers have been bracing in recent weeks as the West Coast dock talks have grown rancorous.
At issue
Leaders of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents about 10,500 workers in Washington, Oregon and California, insisted yesterday that they had done nothing to provoke the abrupt lockout.
But the carriers' association cited dozens of examples of what it said were deliberate acts to slow or halt the flow of cargo, such as the failure to fill key equipment operator positions and the loss of cargo containers in terminals. Overall, productivity was down 54 percent coastwide, the association said.
Association president Joseph Miniace said it would be more costly for terminals to operate under a slowdown than to shut down operations entirely, because union members would be paid for doing little or no work. "I will not pay workers to strike," said Miniace.
Union members were incensed by the late-afternoon lockout decision and quickly set up picket lines at terminals in Los Angeles and Long Beach.
"They want to play this game? They can go ahead and play it," said Ramon Ponce de Leon Jr., president of ILWU Local 13 in Los Angeles.
A top federal mediator has offered to help the two sides reach an agreement. The carriers' association has said it would accept mediation, but the union has refused an intermediary.
In Hawai'i, officials with ILWU Local 142 did not return calls yesterday. On Friday, a local union official said dockworkers planned to work normally over the weekend. Local 142, which operates under separate contract negotiations, has agreed to extend its contract until the West Coast dispute is resolved.
Officials with Matson Navigation Co., one of the Islands' major shipping companies, said yesterday that stevedoring operations in Honolulu and on the Neighbor Islands were continuing normally, and at least one ship is to depart on the approximately five-day voyage to the West Coast today.
Dock disruptions that affected Hawai'i 1949: The International Longshore & Warehouse Union launched a six-month dock strike that triggered food shortages and bankruptcies across Hawai'i. The strike was part of a larger struggle to win wages for Hawai'i workers comparable to West Coast workers. 1971: A West Coast dockworkers' strike crippled the state for more than 100 days. 1997: The ILWU staged a Hawai'i dock work-stoppage. It lasted one day. 1999: A dockworker slowdown on the West Coast led to delays, price increases and a scarcity of imported staples such as rice, milk and paper.
Officials at CSX Lines, Hawai'i's other top shipping firm, did not return calls yesterday. According to a schedule from the state harbormaster Friday evening, one CSX ship, the Spirit, is expected to depart Honolulu Harbor tomorrow.
Docks' history
Matson Navigation president and chief executive Jim Andrasick said yesterday that Matson has agreed to cancel all West Coast work shifts through the end of the day shift tomorrow, and has not committed to any action one way or the other beyond that.
The company said two Matson vessels were able to leave the West Coast for Hawai'i over the weekend. One left Oakland just before the lockout, the other left Los Angeles just before the association decided not to bring in further workers.
The disruption in the flow of cargo will have an immediate effect on the state, which imports about $10 billion worth of merchandise per year, including $1 billion in food, according to state estimates. Businesses could start seeing shortages later this week.
"If it just goes to midweek, it probably won't have much of an impact," said Leroy Laney, a professor of economics and finance at Hawai'i Pacific University. "But if it goes on long enough, then we could have some damage to the economy. I don't think it would put us into a recession, but it depends on how long it goes on."
• The Pacific Maritime Association has shut down all 29 West Coast ports until the union representing dockworkers agrees to extend a lapsed contract they have been negotiating. • The carriers' association said dockworkers continued a work slowdown yesterday when the ports reopened after an initial 36-hour shutdown. • The union representing dockworkers has denied that it's staging slowdowns, saying workers are adhering to safety regulations. • Several Hawai'i cargo ships are affected. • Hawai'i dockworkers, who operate under separate negotiations, had planned normal work schedules. • Many local businesses said they had stocked up on inventory and could weather several days of disruption, although it's not clear what impact a lengthy shutdown could have. • Links:
Airlift of goods would increase, but the quantities would be smaller and the costs more expensive. Tourism could be slowed. Dockworkers in Hawai'i, although they are not included in the lockout, could lose work hours as ships stop coming in to local ports.
At a glance
"But I'd also point out that cargo is backing up; the loss of hours would be made up later, when the ships come in heavier," he said. "So it is my hope that it is more of a timing issue for our Honolulu workers."
Andrasick said he believes the impact of the disruption of goods and services to local consumers could be curtailed by the foresight of his customers.
"Many of them have said, publicly and otherwise, that they have been ordering a little heavier for just such an event," he said. "There will be some minor shortages, maybe in some of our extravagant menu options, but I don't see an immediate impact in terms of essential goods and services."
Andrasick said he isn't sure how long it would take before some essentials become unavailable.
Yesterday's disruptions came after ports reopened yesterday after being closed Friday for what the carriers' association called a "cooling-off period" after terminal operators reported slowdowns up and down the coast.
In some cases, crane operators who normally move 30 containers an hour off ships were moving only three an hour. Port gates reopened yesterday morning, and both sides said they were prepared to put in a normal day.
But the situation deteriorated quickly. One hour after gates opened at 8 a.m., many jobs had still not been filled. Cranes that were operated were moving slowly. Truckers, who hoped to make up for the previous day's closure, were backed up two-deep more than a quarter-mile at terminals in Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Andrasick said yesterday that he is still holding out hope that the situation will be resolved soon.
"The last I heard, PMA and the ILWU will be meeting (today)," he said. "I hope they'll get back to the table and resume negotiations. But let me reinforce this: it is an unstable situation."
A Los Angeles Times report was included in this story.
