BUSTLING WEST COAST PORTS FALL QUIET AMID LABOR DISPUTE

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

BY JUSTIN PRITCHARD

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Seaports in major West Coast cities that normally are abuzz with the sound of commerce have fallen unusually quiet.

Companies that operate marine terminals didn't call 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 stalled talks have all but paralyzed 29 ports that handle about one-quarter of U.S. international trade - around $1 trillion worth of cargo annually.

FULL story at link.



FILE - This Feb. 9, 2015 file photo shows the Yang Ming Masculinity, YMMS cargo ship anchored off the Long Beach Harbor waiting to be unloaded due to a labor dispute in Long Beach, Calif. Amid an increasingly damaging labor dispute, 29 seaports which handle billions of dollars of goods will be mostly closed four of the next five days. Negotiations for a new dockworker contract were to resume Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015, but were canceled. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, file)

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_PORT_LABOR?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-02-12-14-28-49

[IADEMO2004]

1. What about the cheap china chit we all buy?????

What will Walmart do? Build their own ports?

[sulphurdunn]

7. Actually, plans are afoot

to build ports in Mexico and then ship Walmart's stuff into the US. Duty free of course thanks to NAFTA.

[IADEMO2004]

8. I'm going to get my bricks.

AGAIN AGAIN AGAIN

[PoliticAverse]

2. This is bad. n/t

[sueh]

3. Thanks for posting this, Steve. I work for a small manufacturing plant. We make most of the

product we sell at our plant, however there are some parts we use (electronics) that we get from China (ugh! I hate that!). Today I talked to one of the sales reps from the Chinese company who works in the US. I couldn't believe what he told me. He said that workers were charging companies that are desperate to get their containers unloaded $1000 per container. He claims to have paid this 'bribe' (his word) twice to help his customer get their goods unloaded from the ship.

I asked him how did he pay and to whom he paid this 'bribe'. He was not very forthcoming in his answer.
.
I think the rep is full of sh*t. He's also anti-union. Maybe even found a way to rip off his own customers.

Steve, or anyone else, have you heard or read anything like this happening?

I am 100% for the union. I hope they get their contract soon.

[Omaha Steve]

4. It would be management deciding the order for ships to unload

That is what I was just told.

[sulphurdunn]

6. I believe unionized PMA workers

who are not ILWU members route ships or at least serve the same function for docking ships that air traffic controllers do for aircraft. If memory serves me the ILWU went to bat for them a few years back in a dispute with the PMA. To the best of my knowledge the ILWU does not route ships or cargo. That is a global enterprise well beyond what it is organized to handle.

[winstars]

5. Workers can't/don't decide what containers get unloaded. Management does. I call BS.

on the story told, not you of course....

[Taitertots]

10. Call the company he reps for an tell them about it

Have his number ready and conference him in after telling his boss.

[Ilsa]

9. It's not even covered on the national news.

I learned of it by watching BBC World News on BBC America.

[ManiacJoe]

11. The ports have not been bustling for quite a while now.

The work slowdown is a frequent story on the local TV news.

[ND-Dem]

12. I hope they win. We need a win.