Labour dispute closes West Coast ports again

SAN FRANCISCO (Sept. 30, 2002, via truckinginfo.com) — West Coast ports were shut down again Sunday night by shipping lines who locked out union cargo crews at the start of the evening shift.

Members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union were locked out of ports in California, Oregon, and Washington for an indefinite period beginning with the 8 p.m. shift Sunday.

The Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), made up of shipping lines and terminal owners, had reopened the ports at 8 a.m. Sunday after a 36-hour lockout, but PMA officials accused the union of deliberately slowing down the flow of cargo from the ports.

Shipping line officials said it would cost them more to run the ports at a diminished capacity than it would to shut them down, so they locked out union workers prior to the evening shift on Sunday.

The PMA initially turned union workers away on Friday afternoon, but by Sunday morning, the ports were back in business, with the exception of San Francisco Bay, where 10 large ships filled with containers waited, untouched since Friday’s lockout.

In some terminals, cranes began moving containers. In others, not enough dock workers were dispatched from the union hall to start operations, the Associated Press reported late Sunday.

Friday’s lockout began after the association representing shipping lines accused longshoremen of staging slowdowns to gain leverage in contract talks.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union said it simply told its members at 29 major Pacific ports to strictly follow safety and health regulations because the employers were bargaining in bad faith.

Over the 36 hours the docks were closed, about 30 ships had to moor outside berths at ports in Los Angeles, Oakland, Seattle, and Tacoma.