Negotiations for a new US west coast dockers contract are fraying as the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), representing the employers, charges the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) with conducting a work slowdown to pressure management during the talks.
But the ILWU said the PMA has exaggerated the situation. "Things are going well compared with six years ago," said ILWU spokesman Craig Merrilees. "Ports are open, cargo is moving, dockworkers are on the job, companies are making tons of money, and all [the PMA] can do is complain about coffee breaks."
The PMA claims dockers at Los Angeles and Long Beach are driving yard tractors slowly and taking more time to place containers on chassis, according to The Cunningham Report, a transport industry news service.
Dockers, they say, have also shut down terminals by taking mid-shift breaks together rather than in turn, thus preventing continuous operations.
Management also said ILWU tactics have cut southern California terminal production during the day shift by 20 to 30 per cent, recalling tactics employed ahead of the 2002 work stoppage, during which billions of dollars were lost until the dispute was brought to an end by federal intervention.
Such slowdowns, said PMA spokesman Steve Getzug, damage the confidence of shippers and the public and could "jeopardize an already fragile economy that can ill afford another hit. Any crisis of confidence works against us".
Mr Getzug also said that the talks so far had been "collaborative and businesslike", despite the union's refusal to extend the contract when it expired on July 1.
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