Warehouse Union

West Coast port workers may resort to work slowdowns as contract negotiations extend past Tuesday's deadline, a Wolfe Research analyst said Wednesday. Such actions may be "in the near term," Ed Wolfe, the New York analyst, said in a report to investors. He didn't say why he believed they might occur. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Assn., which represents port terminal operators, have been trying to avoid a strike like the one that idled the cargo entry points for 10 days in 2002.

A 73-year-old dockworker was killed Friday after being run over by a forklift as he was helping unhook cargo from a ship at the Port of Long Beach, officials said. Carlos Rivera of Wilmington had worked on the waterfront for more than 40 years. "This is a man with considerable experience," said John Showalter, spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. "This affirms the fact that the docks are a dangerous place to work." The California United Terminal, where the 11 a.m. accident occurred, ordered cargo handling halted for 24 hours.

Though I might disagree with a couple of points in the Nov. 15 editorial, "L.A.'s Dawdling Ports," still I say three cheers for ringing the alarm bells about bankers' hours of the terminals at the nation's busiest seaport. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union called for extended hours at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles long ago, and so we agree with The Times that the current business-as-usual schedule is not good enough. The union would like to see the ports embrace 24/7 access and the creation of inland staging areas so we can move this cargo off the docks and into the supply chain more efficiently and quickly, so goods arrive in neighborhood stores on time.

The Justice Department said Wednesday that it will not pursue contempt penalties against the dockworkers union or shipping companies for contributing to slowdowns in violation of a court order to keep West Coast ports moving normally. The statement was filed with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco on the eve of a status conference today involving the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Assn, which represents shipping lines and terminal operators.

Regarding "U.S. Must Loosen Two Sides' Tight Grip on Ports," Oct. 16: Why does the solution seem to be to tie the hands of American labor instead of considering that the Pacific Maritime Assn. may be too strong and should not be able to wield the power it has been using? My husband has been a member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union for 44 years and has seen many changes. My son has been a casual worker for the last five years; casuals have no union status. I hear from both what is really happening on the docks.

Whereas business monopolies are dangerous to the economy of the country, so are union monopolies ["Dispute Shows a Union Firmly Anchored at West Coast Ports," Oct. 13]. The dockworkers plainly have a monopoly on the West Coast that can be devastating to the U.S. economy. Unions have a right to apply economic pressure on their employers but not on individuals and businesses that have no voice in their demands. Legislation should be passed that places unions on an equal footing with anti-trust laws on business.

Re "Stage Set for More Port Labor Strife," Sept. 29: The International Longshore and Warehouse Union fears that computers might replace some of its union brethren in the buggy-whip department, so it stages a work slowdown? This is precisely what's wrong with organized labor today: The painters union fears its members may become more productive with wider brushes, or the construction workers union fears its members may become more efficient with heavier hammers. Sheesh. The stevedoring companies would do well by offering these jobs outside at half the $80,000 union wage.

By locking out the longshoremen not once but twice (after publicly threatening to do so several times), management has made it clear that it never intended to sit down at the table with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and bargain in good faith (Sept. 30). Rather, its plan all along has been to get the federal government involved in these negotiations in the hope that the feds could succeed in pulling off what it (the Pacific Maritime Assn.) has been unable to do, i.e., break the longshoremen's union.

Accused of failing to comply with a 15-year-old federal court order to hire more women, the powerful longshore workers union and a prominent shipping association have agreed to settle contempt of court charges by recruiting more female dockworkers in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The pending settlement, which is headed for approval early next year in federal court, involves a civil contempt action against the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Assn.