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The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) representing U.S. dockworkers on the West Coast filed for bankruptcy protection last week amid a pending lawsuit over unfair work slowdowns and stoppages. The ILWU, which represents 22,000 dock and warehouse workers at ports along the West Coast from San Diego to Washington state, including the nation’s busiest container port at Los Angeles and Long Beach, is in the midst of litigation with the Oregon branch of the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) over illegal work stoppages and slowdowns amid labor disputes. A federal court found in 2019 that the ILWU had...

LOS ANGELES — Employers could lock out West Coast dockworkers in as few as five days if the two sides do not reach a new contract. That warning came Wednesday from the head of a maritime association who is negotiating a new deal with a union representing longshoremen at 29 ports that handle about $1 trillion in trade annually. Pacific Maritime Association CEO James McKenna said he wanted to avoid a coast-wide port shutdown, but employers wouldn't keep paying workers who aren't moving cargo at their normal rate if the ports become much more gridlocked. He said that could come...

AS the Abbott government begins to take on union power and corruption, a timely new book reveals the union movement's role in one of the most shameful periods of Australian history. What the wharfies did to Australian troops - and their nation's war effort - between 1939 and 1945 is nothing short of an abomination. ..... One of the most obscene acts occurred in October, 1945, at the end of the war, after Australian soldiers were released from Japanese prison camps. They were half dead, starving and desperate for home. But when the British aircraft-carrier HMS Speaker brought them into...

As if Superstorm Sandy and the looming fiscal crisis weren't enough, a potential strike by thousands of dock workers from Boston to Houston threatens to shock the economy as early as this weekend. Business groups and state officials in recent days have called on President Obama to intervene, and use emergency powers to "avoid a coast wide port shutdown." They warn it could cost billions, citing estimates that a 10-day port lockout in 2002 cost $1 billion a day -- and caused a major backlog in shipments. Florida Gov. Rick Scott is the latest to enter the fray and call...

Still On the Waterfront: Long plagued by Johnny Friendlys, dockworkers fight to take back a mob-infested union by Tom Robbins June 27th, 2006 12:21 PM Just south of the Statue of Liberty, the huge white shipping cranes of New Jersey's container terminals arch into the sky. Even in the summer haze, the cranes still dominate the horizon. Their 200-foot-tall white hoists slant up and east, offering a kind of silent salute to the torch clenched in the statue's upraised arm. Most of New York's shipping is conducted on the Jersey side of the harbor now. More than $130 billion in...

With all the recent talk about security vulnerabilities at the nation's ports, one subject goes virtually unmentioned. The men who actually control many of the nation's docks, especially on the Eastern seaboard, are in the hip pocket of the Mafia and have been for decades. Regardless of whether or not a Dubai-owned company manages operations at these ports -- currently the source of much hand-wringing in Washington -- many of those with the most direct access to the billions of tons of cargo that move through those ports owe their jobs to the mob. How can that be? It all...

<p>WASHINGTON — West Coast dockworkers and shipping companies reached a tentative six-year contract agreement early today, potentially ending a long, caustic labor dispute that closed the ports and prompted presidential intervention.</p> <p>Chief federal mediator Peter Hurtgen praised both sides, saying lead negotiators in San Francisco "demonstrated statesmenlike leadership, which made this agreement possible."</p>

The association of West Coast port operators said yesterday that it had complained to the Justice Department that the dock workers were engaging in a "concerted, systematic work slowdown." The group, the Pacific Maritime Association, asked the government to act, asserting that productivity had fallen to 34 percent below normal in Oakland, Calif.; 29 percent below normal in Portland, Ore.; and 27 percent below in Seattle. Joseph Miniace, the president of the association, said, "The International Longshore and Warehouse Union is playing games with the U.S. economy, and inflicting economic pain and hardship on scores of companies and their employees."...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryOctober 12, 2002 Radio Address by the President to the Nation      Audio THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This week, both the House and Senate passed strong bipartisan measures authorizing the use of force in Iraq if it becomes necessary. Our country and our Congress are now united in purpose. America is speaking with one voice: Iraq must disarm and comply with all existing U.N. resolutions, or it will be forced to comply. Confronting Iraq is an urgent matter of national security. America's economic security, especially the creation of good jobs is also an urgent matter,...

On all these newscasts dealing with the strike at the ports, I keep hearing that these dock workers make between $80,000-$160,000. Does anyone else find that a little strange? Why exactly are they striking? No one seems to be asking how exactly these guys are getting paid like this... I know surgeons that don't make this kind of money. Can anyone fill me in?

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...

<p>Hawai'i has received an exemption to the port shutdown that has paralyzed the West Coast, and dockworkers will begin loading ships with cargo bound for the Islands today.</p> <p>Yesterday's developments: • A federal mediator shuttled between representatives of dockworkers and management at a San Francisco hotel, with talks expected to go through the weekend.</p>

<p>SAN FRANCISCO ­ West Coast docks sped toward renewed labor unrest today as shipping lines accused longshoremen of staging work slowdowns after their union expressed frustration over contract talks by urging members to work "in strict accordance" with safety regulations. Longshoremen began staging slowdowns this afternoon in Oakland, as well as Seattle and Tacoma, Wash., according to Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping lines and terminal operators.</p>

OAKLAND, Calif. — Shipping lines and the dockworkers union said yesterday that talks on a new contract have broken down, raising the possibility of labor disruptions at West Coast ports later this week. Each side gave different reasons for the impasse, but its effect is clear — as of last night, there will be no contract covering the dockworkers who handle the booming Pacific Rim trade at 29 major West Coast ports. The break means that the 10,500 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union can stage work slowdowns. If they do, the shipping lines that employ them say...