...Bush, in deciding to intervene, was reacting to escalating pressure from retailers, manufacturers and other business groups dependent on Pacific Rim trade.
With more than 200 cargo ships stranded at the West Coast's 29 ports, immobilizing both imports and exports, losses to the national economy have been estimated at $1 billion to $2 billion a day, Bush's action would force the Pacific Maritime Association to end its shutdown of the ports for an 80-day cooling-off period. The PMA, which represents shippers and terminal operators, ordered the lockout in response to what it said were slowdowns by port workers that amounted to strike action in all but name.
Still, the president's intervention is being viewed as a blow against the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents the 10,500 workers involved in the labor dispute.
"This is the wrong decision," said AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka. "The federal government has tipped the balance of power heavily in the employer's favor."
Federal mediation efforts aimed at promoting a new labor contract between the PMA and the ILWU began last week but collapsed late Sunday night.
The board of inquiry expected to report to Bush today consists of former Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Brock of Tennessee, who is serving as chairman; Patrick Hardin, a University of Tennessee law professor; and Dennis Nolan, a University of South Carolina law professor.
They are in San Francisco, where most of the abortive labor negotiations have been taking place, and were taking testimony from the two sides late Monday.
James Spinosa, president of the ILWU, and other union officials said they would resist any order to resume work at full speed.
"We're going to continue to 'work safe,'" Spinosa, using a phrase associated with work slowdowns, said in remarks reported by The Times.
"Yeah, I guess it is a slow-up," he said. "That's the way we're going to work."
But if a court injunction is granted, a federal judge would not tolerate such slowdowns, countered PMA President Joseph Miniace.
Miniace said the offer made to union negotiators Sunday night "would have made them the envy of every blue-collar worker in America." The proposal included wages topping $100,000 a year in all categories, full health-care coverage and a pension averaging $50,000 per year.
In exchange for the introduction of new technology, the PMA also guaranteed full employment for life to all current union members and said any new clerk jobs created by the technology would be part of the union's jurisdiction.
"We gave the union the opportunity to get the ports up and running last night without government intervention," Miniace said. "We made it clear we would be willing to make some changes. We would have the federal mediator to help us. But they rejected that offer."
Even if the ports reopen today, shipping industry officials told The Times that it would take four to six weeks to eliminate the cargo backlog.
Incredibly two-faced, aren't they?