The United States economy has lost one billion dollars every day
since Sunday, and we can’t blame it all on the stock market.
It’s the result of a tense contract dispute.
All 29 ports on the West Coast, from San Diego to Vancouver,
have been shut down since the 10,500 members of the International
Longshore and Warehouse Union were locked out Sunday morning. The
port operators and international shipping lines represented by the
Pacific Maritime Association made the decision to close the
ports.
The reason behind the closure is legitimate but has been taken
to a new level of absurdity. Both sides appear to equally deserve
the blame.
Workers of the ILWU do all the dock work at the ports. Their
contracts expired at the end of June, and they have been working
without contracts since then. Over the past few months they have
participated in several work slowdowns, declining to work overtime
and drawing up work schedules in which skilled workers were placed
in jobs they knew nothing about. The slowdowns result from
disagreements between the union and the PMA over pensions and
benefits, and the use of new technology which the association
claims is necessary but over which the union wants control.
The federal government has appointed a mediator to help the two
sides negotiate a new contract. Unfortunately, the entire process
has been reduced to childish bickering, with the PMA bringing armed
guards to the meeting Tuesday, resulting in a walkout by the
ILWU.
Now, everything from factory parts to televisions and papayas is
sitting idly up and down the coast. Some factories are considering
shutting down if they do not receive parts to keep their plants
operational. Furthermore, there are no other places to unload the
cargo because the huge container ships, mostly from Asia, are too
large to fit through the Panama Canal.
If the work stoppage continues, the effects will ripple through
our already sagging economy. President Bush has been urged to step
in and do something to end the lockout. He has the authority to
reopen the ports during a mandatory cooling-off period, in which
trading would commence while both sides gathered their thoughts and
lessened the tensions.
Both Press Secretary Ari Fleisher and Bush have recommended that
the longshoremen get back to work, with Bush attempting to spit out
why it’s such a problem: “Any strike’s a tough
situation, but this one happens to come at ““ or, a lockout is
a tough situation or no work is a tough situation ““ this is
coming at a bad time.”
With such an inarticulate president, no wonder neither side is
intimidated by his threats.
There are innumerable repercussions of the port closure.
Individuals from Mexico to Asia are being affected. People who
count on the port operations for their livelihoods are having
trouble making ends meet. This includes not only the longshoremen,
but also the small business owners and small farmers who use the
ports to trade their goods. People in Hawaii have begun to
stockpile, or at least stock up on, essentials such as toilet paper
and rice, fearing the closure will last a while and will prevent
importation of needed goods. These consequences do not even take
into account how the Asian market is responding to the lack of
trade with the United States.
All this is happening because the ILWU and the PMA are involved
in a petty bickering match. There are important issues that need to
be worked out, but with tensions running high and people storming
out of negotiations, how is there supposed to be any progress? Both
sides need to calm down. If they can’t reach an agreement
soon, Bush needs to step in to help.