2 sides in West Coast seaport dispute race against deadline
Source: AP-Excite
By JUSTIN PRITCHARD
LOS ANGELES (AP) — With a Friday deadline looming, negotiators labored to reach a deal in a contract dispute that has snarled international trade at seaports from Southern California to Seattle.
U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez told dockworkers and their employers that if they cannot find common ground in San Francisco, he will take the parties to Washington next week. The idea is that, after nine months of talks, it will help to have a change of scenery and proximity to elected leaders who are increasingly pushing for a resolution to economically damaging problems on the West Coast waterfront.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association, made up of shipping companies and port terminal operators, are working under a media blackout and had no comment Friday.
Billions of dollars of cargo are sitting on dozens of massive ships anchored outside West Coast ports. They cannot dock because of historically bad cargo bottlenecks at 29 ports that handle about $1 trillion of trade annually, much of it with Asia.
FULL story at link.
Two ships sit anchored in Commencement Bay near the Port of Tacoma's grain facility, left, Friday, Feb. 20, 2015, in Tacoma, Wash. With a Friday deadline looming, negotiators for the two sides in the contract dispute that has snarled international trade at U.S. West Coast seaports are laboring to reach a settlement as billions of dollars of cargo are sitting massive ocean-going ships anchored outside port facilities. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150220/us--port_labor-89d9d323f3.html
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