Pacific Maritime Association

As a West Coast contract covering 26,000 dockworkers ran out Tuesday evening, concern rippled among U.S. retailers about a possible strike -- even though talks are continuing. "From our perspective, it's critical that these negotiations get resolved peacefully and that a new contract gets put in place as quickly as possible," said Jonathan Gold, who focuses on supply-chain and customs issues as a vice president of the National Retail Federation, a trade group.

With the West Coast dockworker contract running out next year, representatives of shipping lines vowed Tuesday that there would be no repeat of the disastrous labor dispute in 2002, which shut down West Coast ports for 11 days, pushed business to competing ports and cost the U.S. economy an estimated $15 billion.

The dockworkers' union and shipping lines said Thursday that they had agreed to early labor contract talks in hopes of reaching an early settlement and avoiding the rancor that had shut down West Coast ports for 11 days in 2002. The joint statement by the Pacific Maritime Assn.

Joseph Miniace, a hard-nosed executive who led the world's largest shipping lines through a bitter confrontation with the longshore union in 2002, has resigned as head of the Pacific Maritime Assn. Stepping into his shoes is just as tough a character. "This is not a sign in any way, shape or form that the PMA is changing its path," said Miniace, 59, whose resignation took effect Wednesday and who was mulling over jobs at a university or in government service.

Major shipping lines said Friday that they had reached a deal with the dockworkers union that would allow the hiring of up to 2,000 nonunion workers to ease congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The pact between the Pacific Maritime Assn., which represents the lines, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Locals 13 and 63, stills needs to be ratified by the roughly 11,000 union members at West Coast ports, the PMA said.

The former head of the Pacific Maritime Assn. is suing his former employer, claiming that he was terminated without cause and seeking more than $1 million in bonuses and compensation. Joseph Miniace, 59, who departed in March as president and chief executive of the San Francisco-based association that represents shipping lines and terminal operators, led the PMA through a bitter confrontation with the longshore union in 2002.

The Pacific Maritime Assn. has a filed a countersuit in federal court against its former chief executive, Joseph N. Miniace, and other parties saying they improperly diverted a $10-million settlement of an insurance policy. Miniace sued the association in July, claiming the San Francisco-based organization fired him without cause and owed him more than $1 million in bonuses, severance pay and other compensation. The association countersued Aug. 27 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

Efforts to unclog Southern California's jammed ports are foundering. Labor officials said Wednesday that a highly publicized plan to hire and train 3,000 nonunion dockworkers -- touted as a relatively quick way to ease record traffic at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach -- has been a disappointment.

Three months after a labor showdown closed West Coast ports and sent shivers through the U.S. economy, union dockworkers have overwhelmingly ratified a contract that ensures stability on the waterfront for the next six years, officials said Wednesday.

In another legal setback for the West Coast's largest shipping association, a federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit that accused the powerful longshore workers union of conducting scores of illegal work stoppages that have idled cargo and cost shippers tens of millions of dollars. The case, brought by the Pacific Maritime Assn.