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发帖数: 29846 | 1 US West Coast seaports mostly shut down amid labor dispute
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Companies that operate marine terminals in major West
Coast cities said they weren't calling workers to unload ships Thursday that
carry car parts, furniture, clothing, electronics — just about anything
made in Asia and destined for U.S. consumers. Containers of U.S. exports won
't get loaded either.
The partial lockout is the result of an increasingly damaging labor dispute
between dockworkers and their employers.
The two sides have been negotiating a new contract, and an impasse at the
bargaining table is all but paralyzing 29 ports that handle about one-
quarter of U.S. international trade — around $1 trillion worth of cargo
annually.
The 15 ships scheduled to arrive Thursday — a holiday for Lincoln's
Birthday — at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, by far the nation's
largest complex, will join a line of about 20 others anchored off the coast,
awaiting berths at the docks to clear. There are clusters of ships outside
the ports of Oakland, and Seattle and Tacoma in Washington.
The Southern California slots weren't opening Thursday. The ships occupying
them were being idled because companies that operate marine terminals did
not call dockworkers to operate the towering cranes that hoist containers of
cargo on and off ships.
The berths won't clear Saturday, Sunday or Monday either. On each of the
days, dockworkers would get bonus pay — they are holidays or weekends —
and employers refuse to pay extra to longshoremen who have slowed their work
rate as a pressure tactic, said Steve Getzug, a spokesman for the Pacific
Maritime Association, which is bargaining on behalf of terminal operators
and shipping companies.
Employers could still hire smaller crews that would focus on moving
containers already clogging dockside yards onto trucks or trains in an
effort to free space amid historically bad levels of congestion. Full crews
would still service military and cruise ships, and any cargo ships bound for
Hawaii.
But both are small operations compared to working container ships that are
as long as some skyscrapers are tall.
Cargo has been moving slowly for months across the troubled West Coast
waterfront. Containers that used to take two or three days to hit the
highway have been taking a week or more, causing disruptions.
The maritime association blames the crisis on longshoremen it says have
staged work slowdowns since November. Dockworkers deny slowing down and say
cargo is moving slowly for reasons they do not control.
The last contract bargaining session was Feb. 6. Negotiations had been set
to resume Wednesday in San Francisco but were canceled despite heavy — and
increasing — pressure from elected officials and businesses to reach a deal
. The two sides rescheduled for Thursday.
Talks have stalled over how to arbitrate future workplace disputes. Some of
the biggest issues, including health care, have been resolved with tentative
agreements. |
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