Labor dispute briefly shuts LA, Long Beach ports

Truck drivers and supporters picket outside the offices of Green Fleet Systems in Carson, Calif.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Truck drivers and supporters picket outside the offices of Green Fleet Systems in Carson, Calif., on Monday, July 7, 2014.

LOS ANGELES — Nearly 1,000 dockworkers briefly walked off their jobs today at the massive ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, disrupting the movement of international cargo before a mediator ordered them back.

The action came as the union representing dockworkers at 29 West Coast ports negotiates a new contract, but was not directly related to those talks. Instead, workers left their posts at three of the ports’ 14 terminals in solidarity with truck drivers involved in a separate dispute.

West Coast dockworkers and their employers have an acrimonious history, including a lockout in 2002 that halted port operations for 10 days, costing the U.S. economy billions of dollars. During these negotiations, both the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association, which represents international shipping lines and port terminal operators, have said they do not want disruptions in trade.

This morning, however, union members at two terminals in Los Angeles and one in Long Beach walked out after picketers representing truck drivers set up lines at six terminals. A spokeswoman for the drivers, Barb Maynard, said picketers targeted the terminals after trucks from three companies they have been trying to unionize went there to load or drop off containers.

Truck drivers and supporters picket outside the offices of Green Fleet Systems in Carson, Calif.

Within two hours, an arbitrator ruled that a walkout-in-solidarity was not permissible and ordered dockworkers to resume loading and unloading ships. By afternoon, the flow of cargo was returning to normal. In all, about 900 workers walked off, according to maritime association spokesman Steve Getzug.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the primary West Coast gateway for hundreds of billions of dollars of annual trade with Asia.

While their six-year contract initially expired on Monday the maritime association and union extended it until Friday. That reinstated the arbitration process, and the ability of employers to force dockworkers back to their posts — a process which disappears when the contract is not in place.