I wonder how much effect this is having on the stock market? Recent commentry suggested that the damage to USA industry was deep from unbalances in inventories..
news.ft.com
'Go slow' allegations at west coast ports
By Christopher Parkes in Los Angeles
Published: October 24 2002 21:51 | Last Updated: October 24 2002 21:51
A court-ordered return to work at west coast ports has barely dented the backlog of freighters and containers built up during a 10-day lock-out which ended earlier this month, according to shipping and dockside employers.
By Tuesday this week, 12 days after work resumed, the number of ships waiting at the key Los Angeles complex had fallen by one - from 101 to 100 - the Pacific Maritime Association said. The PMA has made formal accusations that dockers have deliberately slowed work rates.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which could face fines and other sanctions if the charges are upheld by a federal court, dismissed the charges, claiming they would be impossible to prove. It has been asked to provide its own data on productivity to federal attorneys before the weekend.
The authorities will then decide whether to press for further action to enforce the conditions of an injunction, under which union members are required to work at "normal" rates for an 80-day "cooling-off" period, during which negotiators should try to resume contract talks.
According to the PMA, the total number of vessels in the 29 west coast ports affected by the conflict has been reduced from 224 to 194.
The association's data suggest that most of the alleged obstruction has been focused on three main entry points: the Seattle area in Washington, Oakland, northern California, and Los Angeles.
The southern California complex, where productivity is alleged to be 9 per cent below normal, handles about half the $300bn-worth of imports and exports that move across the coast each year.
While the union has blamed dockside congestion, the need to work safely in dangerous conditions and the employers' failure to call up extra skilled workers for any slowdown, the PMA has prepared a long list of charges.
They include claims that key skilled workers and clerks - among the highest-paid waterfront workers - have failed to turn up, come in late or have reported for work only to go home "sick".
The confrontation, one of many since contract negotiations started in May, had been expected and appears to have been taken into account by US companies concerned about the prospects for delivery of imports and exports.
Air cargo traffic has increased by as much as 30 per cent. Mexican ports are also busy handling some of the cargo backlog, while some vessels from Asia have been diverted through the Panama Canal to east coast ports. |
