Posted on 09/27/2002 3:15:27 PM PDT by RCW2001
SAN FRANCISCO — The association representing shipping lines locked out longshoremen at all West Coast ports until Sunday morning as part of what it called a "cooling-off period" in contract negotiations.
The announcement today came after the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping lines and terminal operators, accused the longshoremen’s union of slowing down the pace of work as a tactic to gain leverage in the increasingly acrimonious talks.
The Pacific Maritime Association board met this morning and agreed on the lockout, according to president Joseph Miniace. The lockout was scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. Eastern time.
He called it "a very, very tough decision," but one that the association had to make because the union was bargaining in bad faith.
"It’s the very last thing we wanted to do. But the union forced us into this," Miniace said.
A spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents 10,500 workers at all 29 major Pacific ports, said the association was acting unilaterally and that union negotiators wanted to keep talking. The union learned of the lockout this morning when the two sides met for talks, spokesman Jeremy Prillwitz said.
The two sides have been bargaining over a new contract for months, but talks have steadily deteriorated.
The union issued a directive earlier telling the workers it represents to work in strict accordance with all safety and health rules.
The association said that evening that longshoremen were slowing the pace of work at ports in Los Angeles, Oakland, Portland, Ore., Seattle and Tacoma.
The disruption could deal an immediate blow to the U.S. economy and stanch the flow of products from Asia just as importers are rushing to distribute goods for the holiday season.
The association has released figures saying that a coastwide labor disruption could cost the U.S. economy about $1 billion per day. The ports handle more than $300 billion in imports and exports each year.
Though they had been deteriorating for weeks, the talks crumbled this week over the question of how to implement new technology, an issue shipping lines have stressed they must resolve before signing a new contract.
The union says it doesn’t oppose new technology, but wants guarantees that positions created by technological advances are union-covered.
The association says a growth in trade will translate into more union jobs over time, but the union shouldn’t dictate that it gets every new job created by new technology.
Doesn't it though??? I agree....All people that work on the labor side of the system should be required to work for minimum wage...
Not to ensure the flow of commercial goods, which may not move, but to ensure the transport of military equipment in a time of war.
Should the Union try to interfere with this, they will be jailed at the barrel of a gun.
And then there are those here that feel American software engineers are asking too much when they expect to get paid $70,000 a year, as such they find that it's a good idea to replace them with cheap indentured servants from India and elsewhere...
Yeah, like those Nike sneakers manufactured in the U.S., or, I know, the Calvin Klein jeans, manufactured in U.S., or, maybe, those Game Boys manufactured in the U.S. Is the irony dripping yet?
If the work is so damned important, pay the longshoremen what they want, and be done with it.
If the work isn't important enough to keep management from locking out the workers, then why have the gov't step in and start pointing guns?
You statist FReepers amaze me.
That should make all FReepers happy.
Minimum wage? Are you joking? $20/hr to change a freakin light bulb or sit behind a desk and sleep? Union wages are just another form of welfare.
You can bet the rent, most of these are fraudulent claims. This will end up hurting all of us.
Sorry Eva, but the biggest proponants of the H1B visa program are Republicans....
My brother is a union steward, and I have heard his rants about worthless,drunken workers he is forced to defend against all logic and fairness.But he will not take a stand for management-lest the EVIL owners regain controll of the company they sweated blood to bring into life.
There is no "cure" for willfull stupidity.
Are we a free country or have we devolved into socialism?
I was not suggesting that govt interfere in a labor dispute, just that they will use troops to ensure the movement of military cargo........and that they would jail anyone who interferes with that.
Right or wrong.
I consider it both undesirable and unlikely that the govt will intervene in the commercial dispute.
I've done work for various union members and was thankful they had the money to hire me...I've never done any work for anyone that was willing to do their job for less money though.
American Longshoremen contribute more to America than the Chinese sweat shops making the crap they're unloading...American Union members getting a piece of the import pie?...More power to them.
If it is in the contract that changing lightbulbs is $20/hr, then so be it.
Is it any less welfare that some get paid 8 figures to run a company that loses money? If the board is dumb enough to pay them the money, then so be it.
H1B software engineers earn less than that....
to the detriment of US workers.
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