Crisis Brews (Again) on the West Coast Docks: What’s Going On?

By James Nash

(Bloomberg Business) — The West Coast ports of the U.S. are headed for paralysis as a contract dispute between administration and unionized dockworkers spills onto the docks from San Diego to Bellingham, Washington. Labor Secretary Tom Perez this week joined talks between the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents administration, and the 20,000-member International Longshore and Warehouse Union. The talks have failed to provide an settlement after 9 months. What’s at stake?

West Coast ports are chargeable for greater than 43 % of U.S. commerce, in accordance with the Pacific Maritime Association’s annual report, and 12.5 % of the U.S. gross home product. A closing would price the U.S. economic system as a lot as $2 billion a day, the affiliation stated, citing figures from a 2002 lockout that lasted 10 days and price roughly $1 billion a day.How a lot does a dockworker make?

On Feb. 4, administration made particulars of its contract provide public, together with 3 % annual raises and sustaining employer-paid well being care and pension packages. The common unionized dockworker at the moment makes $147,000 a yr, in accordance with the administration press launch.

The union disputes that determine, saying it assumes important additional time and consists of non-salary advantages. Most dockworkers take house lower than $100,000 a yr, it says. What’s holding up a deal?

The final important roadblock is the union’s demand to have the ability to unilaterally fireplace arbitrators who hear office grievances, stated James McKenna, president of the administration group. The union has declined to touch upon this alleged demand.

These negotiations are all the time fraught. The 2008 talks — the one ones between 2002, when port employers ordered a lockout of the dockworkers, and the present brinksmanship — weren’t particularly acrimonious, however the talks are by no means performed earlier than the contract expires. What’s taking place on the ports proper now?

The slowdowns have diminished cargo motion by virtually half on the largest ports, leaving greater than 30 cargo ships stranded within the harbor shared by the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports and cargo containers piled up on the docks. The Pacific Maritime Association, the bargaining agent for delivery strains, terminal operators and stevedores, suspended cargo operations for six days in February — all weekends or holidays — as a substitute of paying additional time for what it stated was diminished productiveness. Those actions have contributed to the backups.And on the bargaining desk?

The two sides negotiated by themselves till January, once they agreed to usher in a federal mediator. The mediator was unable to foster an settlement. Labor Secretary Perez joined the talks Tuesday.What’s subsequent?

Without a contract, the union can strike and port employers can order a lockout, as they did in 2002 after accusing dockworkers of deliberate slowdowns. If both occurs, the White House may invoke the Taft-Hartley Act to reopen the ports, as George W. Bush did after the 2002 lockout stretched to 10 days.