West Coast
dockworkers
protest WTO
meeting

The work stoppage is
expected to have little
or no effect on Hawaii

From staff and wire reports

ILWU dockworkers on the West Coast shut down the West Coast docks for several hours today to protest the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, but little or no disruption was expected in shipping to Hawaii.

Matson Navigation Co. spokesman Jeff Hull said the International Longshore & Warehouse Union members had scheduled different work stoppage hours at different ports, but were all expected to be back at work by late afternoon on the West Coast.

One Matson ship, the Lihue, left Los Angeles for Hawaii early this morning and another, the Maui, is scheduled to leave Oakland at midnight, hours after the union members were expected back on the job, he said.

Marvin Buchanan, a spokesmen for Sea-Land Service, the other major shipping line serving Hawaii, said the company Land had no sailings to Hawaii today.

He said if there is any disruption to Sea-Land's schedule it will be for no longer than a few hours.

The ILWU said most ports would be shut for three hours, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Pacific time (8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Hawaii time).

The ports in Seattle and San Francisco were expected to be closed for about 8 hours.