Mediation Begins; Pressure Grows

The longshore union and shipping lines tried to hammer out their differences with a federal mediator Thursday as losses from a West Coast port shutdown continued to cascade through the economy.

With about 150 container vessels stranded outside ports along the coast, at least 18 others changed course to seek alternatives in Mexico or elsewhere. Meanwhile, a growing number of Republican and Democratic legislators weighed in on the standoff, with some calling for the Bush administration to intervene and others warning that such a move could be counterproductive.

After five months of negotiations and escalating tensions, Thursday’s talks in San Francisco were described by both sides as cordial, and one officer of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union said there was a good chance that progress would allow the ports to reopen this weekend.

“The natural next step is to get people working again,” said Peter Peyton, a veteran longshore clerk who is in Washington to lobby against federal intervention. “I think it will be soon.”

Despite the optimism, however, there was no apparent movement on an issue that both sides consider crucial to their long-term survival: whether several hundred key computer jobs will be brought under the union’s jurisdiction.

Fed up with what they portray as an arrogant and overreaching union, several members of the Pacific Maritime Assn., which represents shipping lines and terminal operators, said they are adamantly opposed to giving over a single additional job.

“They want to determine the planning of all cargo. They want programming and maintenance of computers. And there is no way in heck we’re going to agree to it,” said one terminal operator executive who asked not be named because he said he feared retribution from the union.

The union is equally adamant about representing cargo planners and having exclusive control over cargo information once it arrives in the terminal. Those jobs, union officers say, fall under the union’s traditional jurisdiction of “directing the flow of cargo” and are seen as crucial to the union’s future. “Without that,” said one marine clerk in Los Angeles, who spoke only on the condition that he not be named, “I think our days are numbered.”

In Washington, a group of House Republicans from California, joined by at least one Democrat, signed a letter urging Bush to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act, which would allow him to order the reopening of the ports for an 80-day cooling-off period.

“Mr. President, the American people cannot sustain a long-term lockout of California ports,” wrote Reps. Doug Ose (R-Sacramento), Darrell Issa (R-Vista), Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) and Cal Dooley (D-Visalia).

The Pacific Maritime Assn. shut down all West Coast cargo ports Sunday, saying work slowdowns by the union amounted to a “strike with pay” and that it was cheaper to close the ports than to operate them under those conditions. The association says it will reopen the ports if the union agrees to a new contract or to extend the expired one, which would give the operators assurances against slowdowns.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the White House is monitoring the situation. “The longer the strike goes on, the more harm is done to labor,” he said. “The longer the strike goes on, the more harm is done to management. And the longer the strike goes on, the more harm is done to the economy,”

Separately, four California House Democrats--George Miller of Martinez, Barbara Lee of Oakland, Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco and Sam Farr of Oakland--urged the heads of the Pacific Maritime Assn. and the ILWU to end the lockout on their own without federal intervention.

Meanwhile, container ships laden with consumer products, electronics, auto parts and agricultural supplies vital to the U.S. economy continued to back up at many of the West Coast’s 29 commercial ports. An idled container vessel can cost $25,000 a day or more in fuel, crew wages, provisions, maintenance, insurance and loan payments. If the ship is docked at a major port such as Los Angeles, berthing fees can exceed $10,000 a day.

Some carriers have been diverting vessels to other destinations to unload cargo and free the ships for other work. The Marine Exchange for the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach said that as of Thursday carriers had diverted 18 to 20 vessels to Mexican ports, the Panama Canal or back to the harbors where they were loaded.

Capt. Dick McKenna, deputy director of the exchange, said there are increasing indications that shipping lines are canceling trips to the West Coast. At least 150 cargo vessels were stranded at West Coast ports, including 90 in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and 22 at Oakland.

“We are beyond the pale,” said Robin Lanier, director of the West Coast Waterfront Coalition, which represents retailers and manufacturers. “If we stopped the lockout today and labor worked at full productivity, it would take weeks and weeks to process all those ships.”

The delay is of critical importance to retailers and manufacturers throughout the western United States that are dependent on waterborne trade. Store inventories are shrinking, and some factories have either suspended production or are planning to do so.

With Asia as a major source of electronic components and gear, the tech industry also stands to lose from a prolonged dockworker lockout. Dell Corp., for example, imports computer monitors and other parts from Asia. Nintendo Co. manufactures its GameCube and Game Boy Advance consoles in Japan. And Microsoft Corp. makes its Xbox game console in China.

Electronics retailers are not reporting shortages of key products, but that easily could change if the lockout extends into November.

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Cleeland and Weikel reported from Los Angeles and Simon reported from Washington. Times staff writer Alex Pham also contributed to this report.