West Coast port slowdown won’t halt holiday goods

FILE - This Dec. 5, 2014, file photo, shows trucks lined up at the Port of Los Angeles in Los Angeles. Labor strife at major West Coast sea ports is threatening the delivery of holiday goods that consumers expect and retailers need to turn a profit. The association representing companies that ship cargo in and out of 29 West Coast ports and manage containers once they are onshore is accusing the dockworkers’ union of deliberately slowing work to gain bargaining leverage. The association said crane operators in Washington state are moving cargo at half-speed, while in Southern California the union isn’t dispatching enough workers to load containers efficiently onto trucks and trains. The union says cargo flow is gummed up because companies can’t provide enough truck chassis to meet demand. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File) FILE - This Dec. 5, 2014, file photo, shows trucks lined up at the Port of Los Angeles in Los Angeles. Labor strife at major West Coast sea ports is threatening the delivery of holiday goods that consumers expect and retailers need to turn a profit. The association representing companies that ship cargo in and out of 29 West Coast ports and manage containers once they are onshore is accusing the dockworkers’ union of deliberately slowing work to gain bargaining leverage. The association said crane operators in Washington state are moving cargo at half-speed, while in Southern California the union isn’t dispatching enough workers to load containers efficiently onto trucks and trains. The union says cargo flow is gummed up because companies can’t provide enough truck chassis to meet demand. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)

By Associated Press December 2, 2014 2 min read

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Labor strife on the West Coast waterfront isn’t going to steal Christmas.

Dockworkers at 29 sea ports from San Diego to Seattle have worked without a contract since July, and negotiations over a new one turned contentious this fall.

On Tuesday, full negotiating teams are meeting for the first time in nearly two weeks.

Public pressure has been mounting, especially because the movement of cargo – several billion dollars’ worth on an average day, mostly to and from Asia – has been slowed. Those issues ripple through the economy, including truckers who don’t get paid as much because they are hauling fewer loads and importers who are being charged fees to store containers in dockside yards.

An association representing transoceanic shipping lines and operators of port terminals accuses dockworkers of orchestrating work slowdowns at the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and north to Oakland and Washington state. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union says they have been working safely and that the bigger factor is a shortage of truck beds to carry containers from the docks in Los Angeles and Long Beach – by far the nation’s largest – into commerce.