Posted on 10/02/2002 6:36:48 PM PDT by Russell Scott
Wednesday, October 2, 2002
All quiet on the Western waterfront during third day of lockout
Longshore pickets moved across the Puget Sound waterfront, but little else budged, as contract talks remained stalled and West Coast ports were silent for a third day yesterday.
Negotiators for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association made little progress. The union stormed out of negotiations, accusing carriers of bringing armed guards to the talks.
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Meryl Schenker / P-I | |
| Containers sit unloaded on a cargo ship anchored in Elliott Bay on Day 3 of the West Coast port shutdown. As the Longshore union, angered by the presence of armed guards, walked out of contract negotiations yesterday, farmers, retailers and even President Bush voiced their concerns about the lockout, which could cost $1 billion a day in lost commerce. | ||
As negotiators argued, teams of Seattle dockworkers made their case along Alaskan Way yesterday, marching before the Matson and Hapag-Lloyd ships stalled below empty cranes.
"We are fighting for our jobs," Dan Quinlan, a 15-year veteran of the docks, said during a short break from his post atop a camper outside Terminal 37. "They took our jobs away from us."
Although dockworkers haven't had a work stoppage in 31 years, they were well-prepared yesterday with campers, folding chairs and food.
They struck in 1971, but the Pacific Maritime Association locked out workers Sunday, accusing the union of staging work slowdowns and "striking with pay." The union says workers were simply obeying safety rules.
"It's just life, life on the waterfront," Leonard Harris, who has spent 36 years working at the Seattle port, said of the dispute.
As the two sides remained at odds yesterday, farmers, retailers and other industries increased the pressure on officials to end a lockout that could cost $1 billion a day in commerce, according to one private estimate. Washington state could lose $40 million a month, according to Chang Mook Sohn, the state's top economist.
Longshore workers, however, continued to unload cruise ships, and negotiators agreed to unload military cargo during the dispute.
Eastern Washington farmers and others shipping perishable goods are particularly anxious because the dispute comes during apple and potato harvests.
Washington, on average, exports one of every three apples picked in the state, and it's the biggest exporter of french fries in the world.
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Phil H. Webber / P-I | |
| They cover the waterfront, in this case Longshore workers picketing by powerboat on the Sitcum Waterway in Tacoma yesterday. Unloaded cargo containers sit on the terminal behind them. | ||
Apples farmers must get off to a quick start in the fruit selling season, said Richard Thomason, who grows red, granny smith, fuji and honey crisp apples on 120 acres in Brewster. If buyers can't find Washington apples, they will simply turn to other suppliers, he added.
"I think agriculture is probably going to take the biggest hit on this thing," Thomason, chairman of the Washington Apple Commission, said yesterday. "Unfortunately, there is not much we can do."
Retailers are also trying to stock shelves for the holiday shopping season, leading the National Retail Federation to call on President Bush to do whatever possible to reopen the ports.
"We're worried about it. We're closely monitoring it," Bush told reporters at the White House yesterday. "This is coming at a bad time."
The president, however, did not indicate he was ready to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act and call for an 80-day cooling-off period.
So far, the president has limited his public actions to dispatching the head of the Federal Mediation Service to San Francisco-based talks.
The first meeting with federal mediators didn't go well yesterday.
Negotiators walked out of the session -- designed to explain the role mediators could play -- after accusing the PMA of bringing armed "thugs" to contract talks.
"We are outraged," Del Bates, vice president of Seattle-based International Longshore and Warehouse Local 19, said at a news conference yesterday.
The Pacific Maritime Association countered that the security detail assigned to chief negotiator Joe Miniace was not in the room with negotiators. Apparently a threat was made on Miniace's life."We would hope the union would understand these circumstances, rather than trying to create an issue that has absolutely nothing to do with bargaining," the association, which declined to confirm the death threat, said in a statement released yesterday.
The dispute threw scheduled negotiations into doubt. Union officials had no plans to meet with association leaders today and had not decided whether to sit down with federal mediators.
Meanwhile, ships stalled off the West Coast may face delays if they head for the Port of Vancouver.
Though it has the capacity to handle more cargo, the Port of Vancouver is not accepting new scheduled arrivals, spokeswoman Anne McMullin said.
The port may consider handling U.S. cargo aboard ships already scheduled to arrive in Vancouver, but the port will accommodate its existing customers first, she added.
P-I reporter Paul Nyhan can be reached at 206-448-8145 or paulnyhan@seattlepi.com This report includes information from P-I reporter Christine Frey, The Associated Press and Bloomberg News.
Notice how it started as a "work slowdown". In other words, show up for work, but don't do anything. Then they can blame the Pacific Maritime Association for the lockout. Yesterday, the chief negotiator Joe Miniace, whos life was threatened, shows up with some security guards, and the union V.P. throws a hissy fit phony rage screaming we can't negotiate with "armed thugs". Another fraud being perpetrated on the American sheeple by the Demoncats and their lapdog corrupt Mafia unions.
I seem to recall many, many media sob stories concerning the UPS striking workers right before another recent election....completely hyped by the media.
That's right, the largest organized crime family in the world, the DNC!
BUMP
I hope President Bush and other Christians in leadership positions read this everyday in their Bible study.
Psalm 35
4 Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.
5 Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them.
6 Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the LORD persecute them.
Psalm 71
13 Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt.
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