From San Diego to Seattle, workers are sittin' on the dock of the bay, wastin' time. It's a union debate that's managed to annoy longshoremen, economists, retailers, truckers, railroads, and the Bush administration. We haven't seen anything this universally irritating since "The Tom Green Show."
Tension has been building for months, but the ruckus really started this weekend when the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping lines, accused the longshoremen's union of a strategic work slowdown. No slowdown here, said the union, we're just pacing ourselves to follow safety regulations. The PMA didn't buy it and locked the longshoremen out of West Coast ports. Days later, the boats are still sitting there, and the media are going a little stir-crazy.
"At the heart of the West Coast port shutdown is a fight over the role of the dockworker in the 21st century," said the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Management wants to introduce new technology to speed cargo handling, but the unions worry that this will result in lower-skilled jobs going to non-union employees.
Even liberal papers like the New York Times didn't seem to have a lot of sympathy for this labor squabble. The Gray Lady told its readers this was not a case of blue-collar labor fighting The Man but wrangling over "clerical jobs usually paying nearly $120,000 a year." The media violins mainly played for local retailers from Boston to Washington State, whose goods are stuck on idle ships. The dock shutdown could mess with two American institutions: new cars and the annual holiday buying binge. In 1999, we endured weepy articles about slow e-commerce operations ruining little Johnny's Christmas with late delivery. More of the same in 2002 if this dock thing keeps up.
As for the broader economy, the consensus was that a few days of shutdown is inconvenient but not debilitating. A few weeks, however, could be bad. Another widely-held opinion is that both sides of the dock dispute should knock it off, or everybody loses. Either way, the negotiations are getting bizarre. Talks failed on Tuesday when shipping company negotiators arrived with armed guards, and union leaders left in a huff, muttering about "gun-toting thugs." The PMA said the guards were for the lead negotiator, who'd received death threats.
Next question: Should Bush get involved? He can invoke the seldom-used Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 to send the bickerers back to work for 80 days to chill out and keep negotiating. It didn't work so well in 1978, when President Carter failed to end a national coal strike, but nervous retailers still want to give it a go. To add another complication, "such an order could be politically difficult before the Nov. 5 election as Republicans are trying to woo the labor vote," said the San Francisco Chronicle. Paging Otis Redding -- we may be watching the tide roll away for a little while longer. - Jen Muehlbauer
Economists Say Dock Dispute Won't Have a Lasting Impact
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30093-2002Oct1.html
With Few Port Jobs at Issue, Economic Stakes Are Vast
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/02/national/02PORT.html
West Coast Shutdown Threatens Economy (Boston Globe)
http://tinyurl.com/1qur
Idle Ports Jam up Cargo
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/89306_port01.shtml
Dock Fight Pits Jobs Against Technology
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/89257_fight01.shtml
Retailers Start to Worry as Ports Remain Closed (Seattle Times)
http://tinyurl.com/1qus
Both Sides Pressed to End Port Dispute (Seattle Times)
http://tinyurl.com/1quu
Woes Spreading Beyond Ports (L.A. Times)
http://tinyurl.com/1quw
Lockout Has Silver Lining: Lighter Freeway Traffic (L.A. Times)
http://tinyurl.com/1qux
Port Idling Has Ripple Effect (AP)
http://www.freep.com/money/business/port2_20021002.htm
White House Intervention Possible in Port Dispute (S.F. Chronicle)
http://tinyurl.com/1quz
