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.
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.
WOW! a FReeper that is not reflexivly anti-union? Keep your head down. Hostile fire is sure to be on its way.
the biggest proponants of the H1B visa program are Republicans....
Yes, gotta keep that cheap labor coming in. To hell with our country. Money is worth more than the USA.
Republicans hate middle-America as much as Dems. The Pubbies want to sell out for today's profit, and the Dems want to sell out for today's election.
What unions are not taking pay cuts?
What unions are not taking massive concessions?
What unions are supporting the current round of begging in front of Congress?
How does union labor at the airline damage you?
What right do you have to dictate the terms of labor agreements at the airlines?
Do you even know what you are talking about?
I am just waiting with gleeful anticipation for you to tell all of us what Communists are running the airline unions, and how we are all anti-American.
to the detriment of US workers.
US workers don't matter to NWO, one worlders...only that someone somewhere will make, then sell, shit stuff as cheap as possible.
The "economic progress" of the USA in the past 2 decades has been fueled, in no small part, by cheap foreign labor. That labor has been subcontracted in sweatshops in foreign lands, and done by foreigners right here at home.
The end result has been the systematic destruction of much of what it meant to be American.
At least we had economic progress. To hell with the American culture.
Pubbies wanted the cheap labor for profit, and Dems wanted it for power. Who was looking out for those of us that love America? No one.
First sentence in this story:
Look like rather a symbolic, one day lock-out to me.
Sadly the few of us who ARE NOT sitting in the -unions are our enemies and coporations are or saviors RAH! RAH! section, or marching in the Republican good, Democrat bad sleepwalk lockstep are the only ones who see it.
Sorry to inform you, but I think your brother's actions (or lack thereof) is a major part of the contributing factor of your hatred for unions.
It used to be the other way around.
Are democrats for the working man
No...
and republicans for their bosses?.
Yes.
Hell, that's SOP for unions!
Milk it boys, milk it!
No, I'm saying there are very few consumer goods manufactured in the U.S. Obviously, subtlety escapes you.
Well I actually do run my own business and have for over 20yrs...there are also competing union businesses.
And, as I stated in a previous post, I've done work for members of various unions and was glad they had the money for my services...I never have and doubt I ever will do any work for anyone willing to replace the union labor for a fraction of the pay, like illegal aliens for example....So for me, and my company, unions work.
As an aside, if you want to see who is more beneficial to the economy, drive through the neighborhoods where union labor lives, then drive through the neighborhoods (if you dare) where the workers who want to work for less lives.
Exchange rates. Hate to say it, but the US dollar is dramatically overvalued. The result of this is that the US is the #1 exporter of JOBS. Will devaluing the dollar cause inflation? Sure. Prices will rise. But I'd rather pay a little extra today than have nothing tomorrow.
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