'Trade May Never Come Back,' Due to Port Labor Strife, Mayor Warns

U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez will continue today trying to help port employers and dockworkers resolve a labor dispute that has reduced work at 29 West Coast ports, including in Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Perez, on the orders of President Barack Obama, has been intervening in the talks in San Francisco this week in an attempt to help resolve the dispute, with federal mediators facilitating talks between the two parties.

Mayor Eric Garcetti joined Perez Wednesday, meeting with the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents port management, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, the representative for dockworkers.

The talks in San Francisco are expected to continue today. While both sides are said to be in agreement on major aspects of the contract -- including health care and pay -- there is still disagreement over an arbitrator who has a key role in determining how the future contract would be implemented and enforced.

L.A. Mayoral spokesman Yusef Robb said the mayor, who was due back in Los Angeles Wednesday evening, wanted to meet in person with the two sides to impress upon them “the stakes” of holding up trade at the ports, and to urge them “to continue operating all ports as effectively and efficiently as possible.”

The months-long labor talks have grown increasingly contentious in recent weeks, with the PMA issuing orders to halt the loading and unloading of ships at all West Coast ports during the past two weekends. The employers contend workers have been conducting an illegal slowdown that has driven down productivity, and they did not want to pay weekend and holiday salary rates for work that is not being done. The ILWU has denied any slowdown.

“We want to make sure we get to a fair and responsible contract that communicates stability to our customers,” Robb said. “Meanwhile, as negotiations are ongoing, we want to make sure our ports are running as efficiently as possible so customers aren’t seeing backups of ships on our shore and decide to take their business elsewhere.”

The fallout of the labor dispute was reflected in numbers released Wednesday by the Port of Long Beach that showed container volumes down in January by 18.8 percent compared with the same month last year.

A slump in the Port of Los Angeles cargo volume is also expected, with the numbers due out later this week, port spokesman Phillip Sanfield told City News Service.

“The Port of L.A. is not only a local, but a national economic powerhouse, which is why I’m up here, to deal directly with both sides,” Garcetti told KNX radio from San Francisco during a break in negotiations Wednesday.

“We cannot wait any longer ... we’re talking about 40 to 45 ships that can’t get into the docks -- bring our shops what they need, get our workers on the docks,” he said.

He warned that with port customers contracting with competing Gulf Coast and East Coast ports, “trade may never come back if we don’t resolve” the labor dispute.

• City News Service