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Posted on 10/06/2002 10:05:30 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
The labour dispute which has paralysed ports on the west coast of America for the past week is now seen as a serious threat to the US economic recovery, prompting President Bush to intervene personally. BBC News Online examines how an old-fashioned row over pay and working conditions has sent ripples of alarm throughout corporate America.
It's just another spat between bosses and workers. Why is everyone so worried?
Because the dock workers at the centre of the dispute effectively control the shipping of physical goods to and from the west coast of the US.
All 29 international sea ports on the west coast have been paralysed for a week, effectively suspending the $300bn-a-year flow of goods between the US and Asia - probably the world's busiest and most lucrative trade route.
Economists estimate that the strike has cost the US about $1bn a day so far. They say that this could rise to about $2.4bn a day this week as more companies resort to air freight, which costs up to ten times more than shipping.
Already, some Asian car companies have scaled back production and laid off jobs at their US factories, while the West Coast-based technology giants Microsoft and Intel have said they are worried about the impact of the stoppage.
And the dispute - which comes in the run-up to the all-important Christmas season, when US imports of toys and consumer electronics reach their peak - could also hurt the economies of export-oriented Asian nations such as China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
All of this has come at the worst possible time for the global economy, which many analysts believe is already teetering on the edge of recession.
If the consequences of the dispute are so serious, why has it been allowed to go on for so long?
Well, it's an old-fashioned row over pay and conditions, and resolving these has never been easy.
At issue are the pension and benefit packages written into the dock workers' employment contracts, which are up for renewal after expiring in July.
Dock workers are also protesting against plans to install new hi-tech equipment, which they fear will lead to job losses.
Negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), and the bosses' lobby the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), have been deadlocked for five months.
The ports shutdown was actually precipitated by the PMA, which last week locked workers out of the docks, accusing them of adopting an illegal work-to-rule strategy aimed at slowing down freight transit times.
It says it will not readmit them until the ILWU agrees to roll over the lapsed employment contracts while a new deal is discussed.
Bosses and workers held a marathon 15-hour meeting on Saturday, but observers say an agreement is still some way off.
The head of the US' industrial dispute conciliation service said after the talks that the issues separating the two sides are "ones of principle, and therefore very difficult to resolve."
Is there anything anyone can do to get things moving again?
There is a piece of US legislation, known as the Taft-Hartley Act, which entitles the US government to order employees back to work for an 80-day period if it believes that the stoppage "imperils national health or safety.'
It could certainly be argued that the ports dispute poses a serious threat to America's economic well being, and some shipping groups have urged President George Bush to invoke the Act.
But doing so would be a politically charged option which would be sure to run into bitter opposition from trade union groups - something that President Bush may be keen to avoid in the run-up to next month's Congressional elections.
For the moment, the president seems to be hoping that old-fashioned political pressure will do the trick.
"The president's message to labor and management is simple: You are hurting the economy," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said at the weekend.
It remains to be seen whether a simple appeal - even one from the most powerful man on earth - will persuade the dockers and shippers to set aside their differences.
Unions and tort lawyers are the Democrats allies.
Yep.
I thought this from the very beginning..."It's the ECONOMY, STUPID!"
The Prez is between a rock and a hard place on this one, and the dims know it, especially when it started ONE MONTH before the elections.....hmmmmm.
FMCDH
Stravation as a weapon...Economic starvation as a weapon...what's the difference? Already, they are talking about shutting down the Nissan assembly plants in Tennessee if something isn't done by the end of next week...
Thus revealing management to be a bunch of dummies. A "work-to-rule" slowdown can't be illegal, by definition. The more I read about this issue, the more I get the feeling there is a serious disconnect, what with people blaming the unions and treading on conspiracy theory.
This whole scenario could also be ascribed to the PM attempting to demonize the union in order to avoid blame for poor customer service. After all, the people who run the ports do have a effective monopoly.
The free market is getting to organized labor which is why unions are becoming a thing of the past--the free market is the answer here also.
Further, Bush does not want to use the Taft Hartley injunction proceedure because that is perceived as being anti-union and as having a political price in the New Jersey Senate race and other places which are closely contested.
What would Reagan have done? Be a statesman on Taft Hartley--its perceived as anti-union; we won't do it. But what we will do is insure the peace--call out the National Guard and do whatever else is necessary to insure that normal labor management bargaining relationships are not interfered with by a criminal element in the unions. Because there are lots of construction guys on the west coast who are very skilled at operating these cranes and who will be real happy to get work unloading ships at $60,000 a year; guys who are out of work because of heavy construction slow downs.
This particular union has relied on criminal gangster tactics for many years and the rest of America has paid the price. Now is the time to bring them to a halt--this is a great opportunity for all of us to stand up for America.
Please explain what the "This" means - and why is there no recovery ...???
"This" = "The US port workers' dispute"
"why is there no recovery" = double (or tipple?) dip recession
Or maybe a X dip recession, where X in [2..Y], where Y in [3..Z], where Z in [4..666].
BINGO!
Historically, the dock strikes have been areas of real bloodshed in America--this union has engaged historically in all kinds of conduct designed to intimidate employeers and substitute workers. The employer's association had armed bodyguards at the negotiation for a reason--they were not just excess overhead.
I suspect that at this point in American society, if the government provided reasonable protection, a real labor negotiation would take place--with real benefits for America. Substitute, even permanent substitute workers would need real long term protection from the union goons.
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