Port analyst warns of a slowdown

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. The talks include the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the busiest in the U.S.

“An agreement is possible and should be something that can be negotiated soon without going back to the 2002 experience,” said Craig Merrilees, a spokesman for the union, which represents about 26,000 workers at 29 West Coast ports. There are no plans for a slowdown, he said.

Steve Getzug, an outside spokesman for the employer group, said in an e-mail, “Although the union has stated it will continue to work while negotiations proceed, there’s no system in place now to police against disruptions, including slowdowns, and we’ve seen in past negotiations -- in 2002, 1999 and 1996 -- that what they say and what they do are two different things.”

The employer association said on its website Wednesday that talks would continue and that it was disappointed that the union didn’t agree to a formal extension of the previous contract, with its no-strike clause and arbitration procedures for resolving workplace disputes.