SAN FRANCISCO — A federal mediator is expected to meet with union dockworkers and shipping managers this week to schedule new talks to resolve the labor dispute at West Coast ports, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Steve Stallone, spokesman for International Longshore and Warehouse Union, said his group will speak with mediator Peter Hurtgen on Wednesday, although he said it’s unclear when talks will actually resume.
Jason Greenwald, a spokesman for the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping lines and terminal operators, said his group will also talk with Hurtgen about a new timetable. Another PMA spokesman, John Pachtner, said he expects talks to begin next week.
The dispute erupted two weeks ago when about 10,500 longshore workers at 29 West Coast ports were locked out by their employers.
The dockworkers went back to work last week after President Bush moved to end the lockout by invoking the Taft-Hartley Act, which calls for an 80-day cooling-off period.
Pachtner said productivity at West Coast ports Monday was still about 20 percent below normal. Productivity had fallen to 25 percent below normal after the lockout was lifted, according to Pachtner, and from 10 to 15 percent below normal over the weekend.
According to Pachtner, the ILWU was not assigning enough dockworkers to handle cargo, and many of those who did show up arrived late.
However, he stopped short of accusing the union of waging a work slowdown. “We are confining ourselves to describing the effects rather than attributing causes.”
Pachtner said the PMA is looking into why productivity has been below normal. “We will come to a conclusion at an appropriate time,” he said.
Stallone denied any suggestion that the union is engaged in a work slowdown, noting the backlog resulting from the 11-day lockout requires more workers than are normally available.
Reacting to the PMA’s claim that productivity has decreased, he said the employer group’s figures can’t be independently verified. “It’s just them throwing numbers around,” he said.
Stallone also said that Cal-OSHA inspectors began monitoring state ports during the weekend in response to the union’s concerns about safety. Pachtner said the PMA intends to cooperate fully with government inspectors.
Pachtner said it could take 8 to 10 weeks to clear the backlog at West Coast ports “based on normal levels of productivity.”
Stallone said it could take months. “It’s such a mess out there,” he said.
Meanwhile, three Honda Motor Co. plants in North America are closed because needed parts are stuck in the backlog of about 200 ships waiting to unload, according to Bloomberg News.
Union Pacific Corp., the biggest U.S. railroad, had a record weekend, moving 18 trains of West Coast cargo per day, more than the usual 13, the wire service reported. Truckers hauled about half the cargo they usually move off docks.