Shipping lines SAN FRANCISCO >> The labor dispute between West Coast longshoremen and shipping companies is about to escalate, with employers planning to give federal prosecutors data today that they say show an orchestrated slowdown by dockworkers in the week since a federal judge reopened the ports.
point to slowdown
They plan to present their
evidence to prosecutors todayBy Justin Pritchard
Associated PressThe hope of the Pacific Maritime Association, which has been monitoring dockside productivity since the 10-day lockout ended Oct. 9, is that Justice Department lawyers will accept the documentation and ask the judge to force longshoremen to pick up the pace -- or penalize them.
Yesterday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup formally approved the 80-day "cooling-off" period mandated under the Taft-Hartley Act. Last week, President Bush invoked that law, which allows the government to intervene in a strike or lockout that threatens to "imperil the national safety or health."
Alsup, whose temporary order required longshoremen to work "at a normal pace," has broad discretion to impose penalties if he decides dockworkers are deliberately slowing down. His jurisdiction expires Dec. 28.
Yesterday, Alsup also prohibited the union from striking during the 80-day period. Union officials have not said they have any such plans.
"Is everything working out according to plan?" Alsup asked government lawyers during the court hearing.
Because of backlog, ports have "not returned to full capacity," Justice Department lawyer Mark Quinlivan said.
"We are continuing to monitor the situation," Quinlivan said. "There are some issues that might arise in the future."
The future may come as soon as today.
"We believe we have accumulated enough information to present a factual case to the Justice Department by tomorrow," association President Joseph Miniace said yesterday. "At this rate, we're not going to be able to dig out from where we are."
Miniace said shipping lines and terminal operators have documented a "totally intolerable" 22 percent drop in productivity since longshoremen returned to work Oct. 9.
Longshoremen have said they are working as fast as they can given a rush of cargo that creates dangerous working conditions at 29 major Pacific ports.
"What's causing the productivity problems on the docks are things that the PMA has created for themselves," said Steve Stallone, spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents 10,500 dockworkers. "It's their lockout that created this incredible backlog."
Stallone said truckers are finding themselves idling far too long because of chaos on the docks he attributed to the lockout. In some cases, he said, shipping lines that finally got a berth were unloading all their containers -- even if they were in Los Angeles and the cargo was destined for San Francisco.
"How does that become our fault?" Stallone said.
Yesterday, an official at Los Angeles/Long Beach harbor said the backlog at the largest port complex in the nation hasn't dwindled over the past week because as dockworkers clear some ships, others steam in from the Pacific Rim.
The total number of vessels in port has fluctuated between 114 and 120, "so at this point in time we're not really 'gaining' on the ship congestion," wrote Capt. Manny Aschemeyer, executive director of the harbor's marine exchange.
Even as lawyers for both sides stood before Alsup, the mechanism that could lead to a resolution of the contract dispute that created the lockout cranked back into motion.
Federal mediator Peter Hurtgen met with union officials yesterday afternoon for "a review of where we are and where we go," Stallone said.
An association spokesman said its representatives expected to meet with Hurtgen late next week.
Atop Hurtgen's list will be the thorny issue of how to modernize the West Coast waterfront with new cargo-tracking technology that could cost union jobs.
The chronic backlog now on the docks has rankled truckers, who suffered losses during the lockout and now complain shipping lines are charging them rental fees for equipment they couldn't return on time.
The fees can run $44 each day for a container or truck chassis owned by the shipping lines, according to Stephanie Williams, vice president for legislative affairs with the California Trucking Assn.
"That's like Blockbuster Video taping up their video drop box and then saying, 'You owe us money,"' she said.
Pacific Maritime Association
International Longshore and Warehouse Union
SAN FRANCISCO >> The West Coast port shutdown was not a calamity for all involved: food banks from San Francisco to New York City are finding pantries fat with tons of perishables that never made it to market. As both sides in dispute go bananas,
food pantries benefitSometimes it's pallets of bananas from Ecuador that sat a little too long off the Southern California coast; sometimes it's greens with slightly browned leaves; sometimes it's milk with a use-by date fast approaching.
In every case, the 10-day shutdown of 29 major Pacific ports that ended last week has proven a surprise boon to food pantries. With some produce wilting in the backlog on the docks, some companies are opting to donate rather than ship behind schedule.
"To get this kind of poundage of fresh fruit is a real blessing," said Darren Hoffman at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. "At least it didn't go to waste."
