U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez arrived in San Francisco, California on Monday to try and cut through the damaging impasse between port operators and workers on the West Coast that has stretched for months, leading to congestion and threatening trade for the world’s richest economy and its partners.
Perez, dispatched by President Barack Obama to help resolve the dispute, will hold formal discussions on Tuesday, February 17, with the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), representing the group of shipping companies operating the West Coast terminals, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), which represents 20,000 dockworkers.
Since Saturday, PMA has imposed a partial shutdown at the 29 ports on the Western Coast that has stopped the movement of imports from Asia and the outflow of exports from the U.S.
PMA in defending the shutdown that entered its third day Monday said it would not pay premium rates for weekend and holiday work that it alleged was being deliberately slowed down by workers as the disagreement over contract details escalated.
ILWU has denied the accusations and said the shutdown was a tactic to divide and weaken the union.
In the meantime, ocean carriers have reportedly massed up idle outside the affected ports, with more than 30 ships waiting off the coast of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the country’s busiest hubs.
Contract discussions between PMA and ILWU began in May 2014 and appeared to be progressing slowly over the past several months until talks stalled when the workers sought a change in the process of arbitrating workplace disputes.
Photo: NickCPrior
