President Moves Toward Forcing the Reopening of West Coast Ports

President Bush set the stage Monday to force the rapid reopening of West Coast ports after federally mediated contract talks between shipping lines and locked-out dockworkers broke off.

The president created a three-member board of inquiry that will report to him today on whether there are grounds to seek a court order to reopen the ports under the rarely used Taft-Hartley Act.

The order--and the resumption of shipping through the ports--could come within hours of the panel delivering its findings.

Bush acted amid escalating pressure from retailers, manufacturers and other business groups dependent on Pacific Rim trade. Losses to the national economy have been estimated at $1 billion to $2 billion a day, and more than 200 cargo ships are stranded at the West Coast’s 29 ports.

Technically, Bush’s action would force the Pacific Maritime Assn. to end its shutdown of the ports for an 80-day cooling-off period. But the expected move was being viewed Monday as a blow against the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents the 10,500 workers at the center of the bitter labor battle.

Union officials and Washington labor leaders charged that Bush undermined any chance of a settlement over the weekend by ordering the board of inquiry’s chairman, former Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Brock of Tennessee, and his colleagues to San Francisco on Sunday. That was more than 24 hours before Bush signed the executive order establishing the panel.

“This is the wrong decision,” said AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka. “The federal government has tipped the balance of power heavily in the employer’s favor.”

Labor criticism aside, the president’s move to force the ports’ reopening played to bipartisan praise.

“In view of the enormity of the economic problems resulting from the lockout, I do not believe that the president had any other choice,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who surprised union supporters last week by reversing position and demanding that Bush put a stop to the shutdown.

“This economic homicide cannot be allowed to continue,” said Sen. Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.), who said his farm state constituents are suffering because of a falloff in agricultural shipments.

Brock and fellow panel members Patrick Hardin, a University of Tennessee law professor, and Dennis Nolan, a University of South Carolina law professor, set up shop in the General Services Administration building in San Francisco and were taking testimony from the two sides late Monday. The panel is expected to report to Bush by early today.

James Spinosa, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, and other union officials said they would resist any order to resume work at full speed.

“We’re going to continue to ‘work safe,’ ” Spinosa said, using a phrase associated with work slowdowns.

“Yeah, I guess it is a slow-up,” Spinosa said. “That’s the way we’re going to work.”

But if a court injunction is granted, a federal judge would not tolerate such slowdowns, said Joseph Miniace, president of the Pacific Maritime Assn., which represents shipping lines and terminal operators.

Miniace said port operators had detailed productivity records that they could show to a judge if work pace falls off. “We have them by ship and by crane,” he said. “Federal judges are pretty powerful people.”

Spinosa claimed that the management group had planned on creating a crisis that would justify federal intervention. He said union officials were still evaluating a management proposal from Sunday night.

“There’s not an impasse,” he said.

Miniace said the offer made to union negotiators Sunday night “would have made them the envy of every blue-collar worker in America.” The proposal included wages topping $100,000 a year in all categories, full health-care coverage and a pension averaging $50,000 per year.

In exchange for the introduction of new technology, the shipping association also guaranteed full employment for life to all current union members and said any new clerk jobs created by the technology would be part of the union’s jurisdiction.

“We gave the union the opportunity to get the ports up and running last night without government intervention,” Miniace said. “We made it clear we would be willing to make some changes. We would have the federal mediator to help us. But they rejected that offer.”

The Pacific Maritime Assn. locked out the union Sept. 29 after a series of alleged work slowdowns, saying it was more cost-effective to close the ports than to operate them with disruptions. Federal mediation efforts began last week but collapsed late Sunday night.

Even if the ports reopen today, shipping industry officials said it would take four to six weeks to eliminate the cargo backlog.

The Bush administration called business executives to a 9 a.m. meeting at the White House today to hear about plans for ending the shutdown.

It was not immediately clear whether Bush would have the Brock panel’s findings in hand by the time of the meeting.

Hundreds of executives were expected to attend the session, said Robin Lanier, executive director of the West Coast Waterfront Coalition, which represents firms such as Wal-Mart and Target that depend heavily on the ports.

Administration officials and industry groups worked hard Monday to detail the shutdown’s damaging effect on the economy. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao told reporters, “Factory workers are being laid off because they can’t get vital parts delivered.... Family farmers and ranchers are being devastated by the shutdown.”

The National Assn. of Manufacturers released a survey suggesting that the effects of the shutdown are substantially greater than the often-cited figure of $1 billion a day. “Five percent of our members say they have already cut back or closed facilities,” said Frank Vargo, a vice president of the trade group. “By early next week, it will be 25%.”

Chao raised the specter of the shutdown damaging U.S. military readiness in case of war with Iraq. Union officials quickly responded that their members have been unloading military cargo throughout the 10-day shutdown, but an administration official, who asked not to be identified, said that only a portion of what the Defense Department needs has made it ashore.

“America’s military relies on commercial ships, docking at West Coast ports, to supply our armed forces,” the Labor secretary said. “Any disruption in the flow of these military shipments could significantly impact the Defense Department’s ability to support our men and women in harm’s way.”

If Bush invokes the Taft-Hartley Act to end the shutdown, it will be the first use of the once-crucial labor law in almost a quarter of a century. President Carter sought--unsuccessfully--to employ the act to end a major coal strike in the midst of the energy crisis in 1978.

The law was last used successfully in the West Coast dock strike of 1971.

Under provisions of the law, the president can establish a panel of inquiry to look into a labor dispute and tell him whether it will “imperil the national safety and health.” Although the law sets no timetables, panels in the past have acted quickly; in 1966, President Johnson received a panel’s report on the same day he appointed it.

If Bush decides to act, he will order Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft to federal district court to seek a temporary restraining order. Administration officials, speaking to reporters on background, said Ashcroft could act, and a court rule, as early as this afternoon.

Under Taft-Hartley, the judge who issues an injunction sets the schedule for compliance based on the urgency and complexity of the situation.

The judge could order an immediate return to work or could give the parties a day to comply, said Jason Greenwald, a spokesman for the maritime group.

Labor Department officials said that once the shutdown has ended, they expect the two sides to return to the bargaining table with federal mediator Peter J. Hurtgen. If no agreement results, the Brock panel would step in after 60 days and issue a report laying out where the two sides stand. After the report, union members would be required to vote on management’s latest contract offer.

If the offer were defeated and the 80-day cooling-off period expired, the two sides could renew their conflict.

Of the 35 times the Taft-Hartley provision has been used, the cooling-off period failed to produce labor peace in 10 instances. Both administration officials and industry leaders appeared to understand Monday that a court order reopening the ports, if it comes, may offer only temporary respite.

White House officials issued carefully worded statements justifying the president’s action but avoided any claim of damage to military readiness.

*

Gosselin reported from Washington, Cleeland from Los Angeles and Menn from San Francisco. Times staff writers Richard Simon in Washington and Dan Weikel in Los Angeles contributed to this report.