At press time, just days after the July 1 expiration of the labor contract between the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), talks were continuing to move slowly.

The two sides were holding only brief negotiating sessions in the days leading up to the end of the contract. Those talks were proving to be as contentious as many observers had feared, with the ILWU urging members to sign up for picket duty. The union, which orchestrated work slowdowns during the last two contract negotiations in 1996 and 1999, appeared to be taking a hard line on making any concessions.

A key issue for the PMA, which represents employers, is to win an agreement that allows improvements in productivity at West Coast ports. The union, which represents 42,000 dock workers on the West Coast and in Alaska and Hawaii, believes those changes would threaten jobs on the docks.

Any slowdown, strike or lockout would have ramifications for the entire U.S. economy, as goods moving through West Coast ports represent about 7 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, according to the PMA. For that reason, a number of organizations, including the National Retail Federation, the National Industrial Transportation League (NITL) and the West Coast Waterfront Coalition, have been urging state and federal authorities to keep dock workers on the job. In an announcement to its members last month, the National Industrial Transportation League said it had learned that certain unnamed "preconditions" for negotiations had been keeping the two sides apart. "The league and other groups representing users of West Coast ports have informed government representatives of the serious consequences of any labor disruptions," the statement said, "and [they] have urged government leaders to monitor developments closely."

In letters to the secretaries of the U.S. Departments of Labor, Commerce and Transportation, NITL President Edward Emmett said that the talks must reach a conclusion that "permits and encourages" productivity improvements that will help alleviate present and future problems at West Coast ports. He noted that although revenue tonnage had increased significantly at West Coast ports over the last 30 years, those ports have lagged behind other ports around the world in a number of well-accepted productivity measures.

In a letter to California Gov. Gray Davis in mid-June, Robin Lanier, executive director of the West Coast Waterfront Coalition, said it appeared unlikely the two sides would reach an agreement before the contract expired. "Labor slowdowns, a strike or even an employer lockout are now distinct possibilities," she wrote on behalf of the group, which represents exporters, importers, carriers and intermediaries, including the PMA. Lanier also wrote that she expected disruptions to begin around July 6 and asked Davis to "use whatever influence you have with the PMA and the ILWU to urge both sides to stay at the negotiating table."

Updates on the status of the talks are available on our Web site, www.logisticsmgmt.com.