In the past week PMA accusations of a union-organized slowdown, and threat to lock out the workers, have indicated the rising tension in the contract standoff.

From Seattle to Los Angeles, West Coast dockworkers have been working without a contract since July 1.

They have rejected PMA proposals to "bypass the hiring hall and outsource jobs," states the union. Workers have also strongly condemned government threats to enact or enforce legislation against the union if work stoppages spread.

Commenting on the September 18 protests, ILWU international president James Spinosa said that SSA’s "primary interest is breaking the union," making the company a target of the union action.

In an effort to undermine workers’ participation in the actions, the company brought forward the lunch hour by one hour to 11:00 a.m. Angered by this move, longshore workers at an Oakland terminal operated by Maersk Sealand refused to return to work after lunch, holding up the unloading of one ship.

The next morning 300 dockworkers joined a spirited picket line outside the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, where Elaine Chao, the U.S. labor secretary, was making an appearance. Earlier in the week Chao had been targeted by a similar protest in San Francisco.

Chanting "No contract, no work," the dockworkers drew support from passing truck drivers, who helped out with their booming horns. Groups of supporters from unions of office workers, janitors, and electrical workers brought their solidarity. Biltmore Hotel workers, represented by the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union, said that their members have been sporting "We Support ILWU, No Government Intervention" stickers inside the hotel.

A number of dockworkers wore safety buttons on their shirts, a sign of their concern about the sharp increase in workplace accidents. Three ILWU members have been killed on the job this summer, the most recent being on September 3 at SSA’s Pacific Container Terminal in Long Beach.

A proposal by terminal operators to increase the posted speed limits from 10 to 15 miles an hour to 25 illustrates the PMA drive to speed up work on the docks. The union has declared its opposition to the proposal.

Accusing the union of organizing slowdowns, or conducting a "selective strike," against SSA, PMA officials declared September 19 that they would launch a lockout the next day beginning with the morning shift.

Union representatives had announced on September 2 that they were pulling out of contract talks and nullifying the official day-by-day extension of the contract that had applied until then. This empowered the union to call slowdowns and other job actions.

The union is "playing with fire and appears to be willing to jeopardize America’s economic interests by initiating hit-and-run tactics against members of the PMA" said PMA president Joseph Minace.

Union representatives denied that any slowdowns had been instituted. Work had been disrupted, they said, because companies had ordered more jobs than the union could fill. A lockout was finally averted on September 20 when the union was able to fill all the slots.

The West Coast ports handle more than 40 percent of the seaborne cargo arriving in the United States, with an annual value of more than $300 billion.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home