WEST COAST PORT SHUTDOWNS LOOM AS DOCKWORKERS/PMA TALKS END

WEST COAST PORT SHUTDOWNS LOOM AS DOCKWORKERS/PMA TALKS END    Contract renewal talks between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association have broken down, raising the possibility of disruptions at U.S. West Coast ports this week.
   The union of dockworkers and the association of port employers have declared a sudden cessation of the negotiation talks, together with the ending of the daily contract extensions of the current contract.
   The previous three-year labor contract between the ILWU and Pacific Maritime Association expired on July 1.
   The Pacific Maritime Association said on Sunday that it expects the ILWU to carry out work slowdowns as early as tomorrow (Tuesday).
   “By walking away from the talks and refusing to agree to a contract extension, the union just fired the first shot,” said Joe Miniace, president and chief executive officer of the Pacific Maritime Association. “They opened the door to work slowdowns, which we have said time and again will not be tolerated.”
   In walking out, ILWU declared that it would not extend the contract past 5 p.m. Sunday, and threatened that the union “is going to do what it has to do,” the Pacific Maritime Association said in a statement.
   If union labor undertakes slow downs, the terminal operators have said that they will lock out the dockworkers outside the terminals. Such actions would severely disrupt the flow of goods from Asia to the U.S.
   The Pacific Maritime Association accused the ILWU of being “unwilling to budge on critical issues of port modernization and technology.”
   The union and the terminal operators have reportedly had problems bridging the gap between their conflicting proposals on health benefits and job reductions linked to new technology. However, the Pacific Maritime Association said on Monday that both sides had reached an agreement in principle on health benefits, while failing to agree on the question of technology.
   During previous negotiations at three-year intervals, U.S. ports were affected by work slowdowns over lengthy periods of time, but employers did not lock out dockworkers.
   “Work slowdowns are how (this) union stages strikes,” Miniace said. “I have said before that I will not tolerate a slowdown-strike, and that still stands. If the Union wants to play games with the U.S. economy, they will have to do it from outside the terminal gates.”
   Union spokesman Steve Stallone told the Washington Post on Sunday that although no slowdown has been set, “the door is open” for legal job actions.