Farm goods rot as port shutdown continues

ABS-CBNNews ^ | 10/6/02 | KIM BACA

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

FRESNO, California - A weeklong shutdown of the West Coast’s major ports has left stacks of market-bound farm produce to rot on the docks and in the holds of ships that can’t reach shore.

As contract talks continued between the dockworkers union and shipping lines Saturday, about 1.3 billion apples were awaiting shipment to Asia, nearly 8,000 tons of frozen meat from Australia sat in untouched shipping containers, and hundreds of tons of other fruit and food products remained far from intended markets.

About 5 million pounds of yellow, red, pearl and other onions grown in the Northwest are in danger of becoming moldy, said Del Allen, president of Allports Forwarding, a cargo booking business for farm products.

Each day it continues, the shutdown is costing the US economy an estimated $2 billion, and for many farmers, it comes at the worst possible time - the peak of the fall harvest.

“By not having product being shipped to customers, you’re also not receiving money,” said John Rotteveel, who grows and packs almonds in Dixon, California, and exports about 90 percent of his crop.

On Saturday, as representatives of dockworkers and management began their third consecutive day of meetings with a federal mediator in San Francisco, the White House warned both sides to resolve their differences.

“The President’s message to labor and management is simple: You are hurting the economy,” press secretary Ari Fleischer said while traveling with President Bush in New Hampshire.

Two senior administration officials said Bush was considering appointing a board of inquiry into the lockout, a potential first step toward ordering workers back to their jobs for 80 days under the Taft-Hartley Act. Shippers have urged Bush to use the act, but several unions have spoken out against it.

The contract dispute between shipping lines and dockworkers - largely over benefits, the arbitration process and whether jobs created by new technology will be unionized - has sent ripples through nation’s agriculture industry, causing slowdowns of the harvest, and in some cases, layoffs.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway stopped grain shipments to the West Coast on Tuesday to avoid further congestion at the ports, said Patrick Hiatte, the railway’s spokesman.

At sea, much of the chilled beef, lamb and mutton held up on ships could spoil before it reaches consumers, said Dennis Carl, chairman of the Australian Meat Council’s shipping committee.

Though most products can be safely refrigerated, storage problems and costs are mounting.

The D.J. Forry Co. spent $7,200 to bring 1,360 crates of plums from the Port of Long Beach to its warehouse in Reedley, California, and will spend $5,000 more to truck them to East Coast docks before a much longer voyage to Asia.

Sales manager Cary Crum said D.J. Forry also is bringing grapes back from the port and plans to truck them to New Jersey for shipment to the United Kingdom. The company will have to absorb the extra shipping costs, rather than sell the plums and grapes domestically, because they’re already packaged for overseas markets.

Other producers are redirecting food to American supermarkets, which could mean lower prices, said Colin Carter, a professor of agricultural resource economics who studies international trade at the University of California, Davis.

Wholesale prices are already dropping for beef, said Chuck Lambert, chief economist for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

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[Doctor Stochastic]

Half of trade is in exports.

[Billy_bob_bob]

If the port management authority thought that they could get public opinion on their side by locking out the union workers and forcing this shutdown, I would suggest that their timing simply stinks.

If they had forced this issue even three years ago, most people would have looked at the dockworkers and blamed them for the entire problem.

However, since the NASDAQ has dropped from 5000 to 1200, and since Enron and Global Crossing and Tyco and how many other companies have imploded, and since crooked CEO's and CFO's are buying themselves $100 million mansions in Florida to protect themselves against the inevitable judgements against them, I would suggest that the American public simply isn't interested in listening to management's side of the story.

As far as I'm concerned, let this strike shut down the whole freakin' economy. The management class of this country have pushed things far too far, far too hard, for far too long now. I don't think the union is the problem here, I think the rapacious CEO's and CFO's are the problem, and I think that the time is long overdue for some serious union activity all over this country, in every industry.

In fact, I'm thinking about contacting some unions and seeing what I can do to bring unions to the high-tech industry. Five years ago I was as anti-union as it was possible to be. Now I want to join one. Funny how unlimited rapaciousness on the part of the power elite can change a person's views.

[Salgak]

Have you seen what these dockworkers make ?? I've see numbers approaching $120K average for an average 40-week workyear.

And the dockworkers were apparentely showing up for work, clocking in. . .and not working...

If their jobs can be automated, so be it. . .

[weikel]

Send in the army to crush this strike.

[Lessismore]

Actually, it's not a strike, it's a management lockout. And, yes, send in the Army to crush it.

[Billy_bob_bob]

Have you seen what a house costs in the Bay Area? Try about $400k for something that is a "fixer-upper" in a reasonably nice neighborhood where the people actually water their lawns and don't leave junk cars lying around. I do believe the metric is 3x annual income is what you can afford for a house? So 3x $120k is $360k, or just enough to maybe get your foot in the door of something you would actually want to own.

At the same time, I wonder how many $15,000 trash cans are sitting in the corporate offices?

God forbid that the people who ACTUALLY DO THE WORK should be able to afford a place to live! GOD FORBID!

[Wphile]

I don't think the union is the problem here...

Oh, yes it is. The union is fighting technology which can better track and record the ins/outs at the ports. The unions want to insure that any technology related jobs be union jobs. The dockworkers want to keep their $100,000+ jobs so they can walk around with a clipboard and write it all down. It's utterly ridiculous.

Bush should intervene and get the ports open again. Many industries are already feeling the impact, as this article shows.

Screw the union label.

[Northpaw]

How skilled are these positions? How about hiring some non-union employees at $65K to $75K a year? Think of the savings.

[Billy_bob_bob]

This is a classic example of unreasonable behavior leading to unreasonable behavior. Of course the workers should be using new technology to be more efficient. However, since the behavior of the management class has been so utterly rapacious lately there is no chance that the union workers are going to believe a word management says. So, they dig in their heels and balk at a perfectly reasonable technology upgrade, because they expect it to be used as a weapon against them in the end.

Sorry, but I'm a whole lot more sympathetic to unions than I ever was before. Something about watching the antics of too many CEO's for too long. When the CEO's and the CFO's have been using every excuse in the book to ship away jobs, like importing H1-B workers to drive down wages, or cooking the books and looting pension plans, they have shot their wad as far as credibility goes. At this point I wouldn't believe a CEO if they said the sky was blue.

[Wphile]

This is a classic example of unreasonable behavior leading to unreasonable behavior.

Yes it is and so is your reaction to CEOs. Sure there are some bad apples in the bunch but I'm sure there are plenty of bad union bosses in the bunch too! I'm sorry...I still take management over unions.

[Billy_bob_bob]

You speak truth as far as bad seeds on both sides. I know about a lot of the dirty laundry the unions bring to the table. But when you are dealing with cutthroats who are willing to shaft you eighty ways from Sunday, you have to have some muscle on your side to make sure they play nice.

I used to side with management, now I side with unions. Perhaps someday you will change your mind, like I changed mine. Until then, be well, and thanks for disagreeing without being disagreeable.

[Flyer]

stacks of market-bound farm produce to rot on the docks and in the holds of ships

Our Union labor (not) at work. I know who's NOT on my Christmas list this year.

---

[Flyer]

Have you seen what a house costs in the Bay Area? Try about $400k

Maybe they were built with union labor.

[Billy_bob_bob]

Wrongo! In fact, many of the houses being built there are being built with labor that doesn't speak English and doesn't know what "plumb" is. There have been legions of people who paid fortunes for houses down there who have watched walls sag, driveways crumble and doors pop out of their frames. No union label on any of that construction!

The real reason for the high cost of housing in the Bay Area is that for every new house that is built, five new households move into the area. Hence, it is very expensive to live there. Supply and demand and all of that.

[hosepipe]

Aw! the workers are just bleeding the strike fund.., must have gotten too big.
They care nothing about America.. as most Unions Workers don't
They care about their Union, perks, etc, first.. America second, or farther down the list.
They are very patriotic,, to their Union, same with most teachers.
And what about the Gov't Workers Union....who are they loyal too?. No need to answer, its obvious.

We need a new word...Unionotic might do... cause patriotic don't fit, in this case, actually in most cases. AARPritoic might do also. AARP is certainly no patriotic outfit. And stands out as one of the most parasitic outfits in this country on the public treasury and for the public good.

[crz]

Send the produce up here. We'll load it and load it so cheap that they'll be able to run it clean around the Horn and still make a profit.

[bimbo]

I think the rapacious CEO's and CFO's are the problem, and I think that the time is long overdue for some serious union activity all over this country, in every industry. In fact, I'm thinking about contacting some unions and seeing what I can do to bring unions to the high-tech industry. Five years ago I was as anti-union as it was possible to be. Now I want to join one. Funny how unlimited rapaciousness on the part of the power elite can change a person's views.

There are many of us who think the same way ... those who have experienced the Voracious appetites of CEOs who download Asian /Indian green-card technical workers far in excess of the the 390,000 allotted ... and just so that they can replace more expensive American workers without sending their company to politically instable parts of the world. The only people who support this situation are those whose jobs are not threatened by cheap foreign immigrant labor - lawyers and politicians come to mind.

This period of American History mirrors in many ways the beginning of the last century:
... Greedy managments (formerly known as Robber Barons)
... Heavy Influx of cheap Immigrant Labor (my grandfather was one).
... 12 hour work days
... all resulting in the rise of the Labor Movement.

[coronado]

I've bever felt so angry with a group of people in my life. Those damn Selfish Bastards, breaking the hard working farmers' backs. Those dock workers can go to Hell. They are holding this country hostage, and as far as I'm concerned, are a damn bunch of domestic Terrorists! If I ever see On The Waterfront again, I will spit at the screen.