Labor strife at ports further slows goods movement
Source: AP-Excite
By JUSTIN PRITCHARD
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Spreading labor strife at major West Coast seaports is exacerbating problems that importers have had getting products to market, threatening the on-time delivery of some holiday goods.
Until this week, dockworkers and their employers were negotiating a new contract with little of the public drama that characterized past talks.
No longer. The association representing companies that ship cargo in and out of 29 West Coast ports and manage containers once onshore is accusing the dockworkers union of deliberately slowing work to gain bargaining leverage. Their contract expired in July.
The Pacific Maritime Association said Thursday that the union isn't dispatching enough workers at the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach who are skilled at loading containers from dockside yards onto trucks and trains. The report comes amid months of unrelated congestion at the ports. On Monday, the association said crane operators with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in Washington state are moving cargo at half-speed.
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