Shipping Group Offers Evidence of ‘Slowdowns’

The shipping industry has turned over to the U.S. Justice Department what it calls proof of a “concerted, systematic work slowdown” by the longshore union since West Coast ports were reopened under a federal court order Oct. 9.

Despite an injunction calling for work to resume at “a normal and reasonable rate of speed,” the Pacific Maritime Assn. said productivity per worker dropped by up to a third in the first week after the docks reopened. The shipping group said the slower pace cost shipping lines and terminal operators millions of dollars and prevented the clearing of a massive backlog of containers.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union said the claim was “completely baseless” and part of a campaign by the Pacific Maritime Assn. to discredit and weaken the union.

Justice Department officials would not comment.

However, they made available a letter sent to the shipping group and the union Tuesday, asking for further documentation by noon Friday and warning each not to destroy any relevant evidence, including internal e-mails.

“These are serious allegations,” wrote Washington-based Deputy Assistant Atty. Gen. Shannen W. Coffin. “I wish to afford both parties the opportunity to substantiate their positions ... before considering the possibility of seeking judicial relief.” Coffin could decide to seek a contempt order from the court, which could lead to monetary penalties as well as further, more specific court orders.

The maritime association filed the eight-page letter containing the charges Friday, but it was not made public until Wednesday.

The shipping group said it told the Justice Department that average productivity per worker dropped 34% in Oakland, 29% in Portland, 27% in Seattle, 19% in Tacoma and 9% in Los Angeles-Long Beach.

Although the drop in the Southland was relatively modest, Pacific Maritime Assn. spokesman Steve Sugerman said the size of the port complex magnified the losses.

Also, the productivity drop does not measure the production lost when workers do not report for work or when crews are dismissed for lack of key personnel.

A terminal operator in Los Angeles, who asked not to be named, conceded that the high volume and congestion at the moment complicate the task of sorting out whether there is an orchestrated slowdown.

“To me, it’s easy to see it’s there,” he said. “But maybe not to a judge.”

The shipping lines locked out union workers last month after a series of alleged union slowdowns that cut productivity by as much as 50%.

Under pressure from retailers and manufacturers, President Bush invoked the rarely used Taft-Hartley Act to seek the federal injunction that forced the ports to reopen.

The union and shipping group have been in contract negotiations since May, and have deadlocked on the implementation of new technology that would eliminate jobs. Talks with a federal mediator are scheduled to resume today.

Since the ports reopened, the union said congestion and spot shortages of labor and equipment -- and not a union mandate -- have slowed the pace.

“They’re playing a game,” said Ramon Ponce de Leon, president of ILWU Local 13 in Los Angeles, which filed a grievance last week claiming employers were not ordering sufficient workers in order to sabotage the union’s efforts to clear out the port. “They’re manufacturing a worker-shortage crisis, then going to court and saying we’re slowing down, and that is a crock.”

The shipping group, however, said it had clear evidence of union slowdowns. It said key equipment operators have not been dispatched to many terminals, forcing the terminal operators to send home entire crews of workers who depend on that equipment.

It also noted wide swings in productivity from terminal to terminal and shift to shift, indicating that workers can move equipment at a normal speed when they so chose.

“When the union wants to be productive it is productive,” Sugerman said. “We’ve had terminals operating at 110% of normal, then the next day drop to 60%. The union’s own good work counters all the explanations for why it can’t do the work.”