Posted on 09/02/2002 11:50:46 AM PDT by Vidalia
OAKLAND, Calif. — Shipping lines and the dockworkers union said yesterday that talks on a new contract have broken down, raising the possibility of labor disruptions at West Coast ports later this week.
Each side gave different reasons for the impasse, but its effect is clear — as of last night, there will be no contract covering the dockworkers who handle the booming Pacific Rim trade at 29 major West Coast ports.
The break means that the 10,500 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union can stage work slowdowns. If they do, the shipping lines that employ them say they will lock out the dockworkers. In Hawai'i, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 142 has been working on a day-to-day extension to its contract while the West Coast unions negotiate.
Talks in Hawai'i are scheduled to resume next week, Local 142 president Bo Lapenia said last night at the Labor in Concert celebration at the Waikiki Shell. Those talks are likely to focus on work issues rather than pay or benefits, he said, because the local here has traditionally modeled its demands on contract gains obtained by the Mainland.
"There is always hope," Lapenia said as he read a news report about the negotiations breakdown. "But it seems that positions have hardened."
A work slowdown on the West Coast would affect the flow of goods into Hawai'i, Lapenia said, and that would affect the availability of work for Hawai'i's union members.
"I guess we'll have to put our heads together with management," he said. "See what we can do."
Lapenia said he hadn't talked to union officials at the international headquarters since Thursday, when plans were to continue negotiating into the weekend. He said he didn't yet know what had caused the West Coast hang-up or what actions were planned to correct it.
Whatever happens, Hawai'i longshore and warehouse workers will support their union brothers, he said.
"I'm not saying we're going to go on strike, but naturally we'll have to support them," Lapenia said. "Whatever efforts are needed, we'll support them."
Some Hawai'i shippers have reported taking precautions in the event of service disruptions linked to the West Coast contract talks, according to spokesmen for Hawai'i's two major shipping firms, Matson Navigation Co. and CSX Lines.
Though the dockworkers' contract expired July 1, both sides had kept goods flowing with short-term extensions.
Union spokesman Steve Stallone said that while no slowdown has been set, "the door is open" for legal job actions.
The talks are important to everyone from American merchants who rely on goods shipped from Asia to stock their shelves to the White House, which has watched them closely and mulled direct intervention.
The ports handle more than $300 billion in trade annually, and a work stoppage would ripple through an already fragile American economy.
The lead negotiator for the Pacific Maritime Association said yesterday he was baffled by the breakdown and, based on experience, expects slowdowns could begin soon after Labor Day.
"The union just fired the first shot," said Joseph Miniace, the association's president. "I think this could be a turning point in negotiations."
He speculated that dockworkers would slow down starting tomorrow. Since experiencing slowdowns during negotiations three years ago, Miniace said, shipping lines have staked a hard line on what they call "strike with pay."
"If they don't want to talk and if they start acting out, then we're 100 percent ready to act out, too," Miniace said.
The rupture came the day after both sides had ostensibly settled a major sticking point over health benefits. Both sides said they had penned an agreement Saturday afternoon.
Show the American citizen how powerful and mighty the aspects of Unionist Socialism are, and how you will punish those citizens who do not fall in awe of your "Me, me, me" doctrines and propaganda.
Please make life a little harder on the common man...
Only a few do, and those that do also spend many overtime hours in a sometimes dangerous job. The owners of the shipping companies are not American, except for Matson Lines, APL and CSX. All the rest are Chinese-owned, Japanese-owned, Danish-owned, Korean-owned, ABA (anything but American). America has practically given up ownership of their shipping lines to foreign companies who would absolutely love to bring in slave labor to do the jobs that American longshoremen fought and died for in the 1930s when their union was formed. They had to fight against the police and imported strike breakers to protect their jobs, and many went to prison and some died.
With cheaper foreign labor brought in, the profits of the foreign companies would soar, and the American guys on the docks would be back where they started from, having to fight each day for a job with peon wages and no assurances of safety.
The formation of the union brought a safer workplace and better wages for the workers so they could support their families.
The Pacific Maritime Association started as a wage-paying agent for employees of different companies on the docks. It has morphed into an anti-union power that represents foreign shipping interests. It boasts of powerful lawyers and has a CEO who would love to break the union apart. He has threatened to ask President Bush to invoke the Taft-Hartley law unless the union agrees to his demands.
The union is trying to protect the jobs, the safety rules, wages and medical benefits of its members, American workers. If these dock workers make good wages, more power to them.
You're wrong about getting the job from relatives. It used to be that way, but because of affirmative action, that changed years ago.
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