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President Obama is sending Labor Secretary Tom Perez to negotiate a resolution to the labor standoff that has shut down trade at 29 ports along the West Coast.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz said Saturday that Perez is reaching out to port management and International Longshore and Warehouse Union officials to broker a deal due to concerns about the economic impact of further delays. Perez reportedly met with both parties on Tuesday.
"The negotiations over the functioning of the West Coast Ports have been taking place for months, with the Administration urging the parties to resolve their differences," said Schultz.
The White House has been facing pressure to intervene in the labor dispute, which is impeding cargo flow to cities as distant as Chicago. A federal mediator, who joined the talks early in the year, has been unable to forge a deal.
"We welcome the administration's attention to this important national and international economic and supply chain issue and hope it recommits the two sides to reaching a deal," said Jonathan Gold, vice president of supply chain for National Retail Federation. "The slowdowns, congestion and suspensions at the West Coast ports need to end now."
The Pacific Maritime Association, which handles labor negotiations for port employers, closed ports in Washington, Oregon and California Feb. 12, 14, 15, and 16 due to allegedly unfair union contract demands and work slowdowns.
By Saturday morning, 32 vessels were waiting to unload at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, according Lee Peterson, a Port of Long Beach spokesman.
"What they’re doing amounts to a strike with pay, and we will reduce the extent to which we pay
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Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst
premium rates for such a strike," PMA spokesman Wade Gates said in a statement.
The ILWU has offered a starkly different take, arguing that managers are needlessly closing the West Coast ports "to divide us."
"They’re using lies and tactics to turn the public against and town locals against the negotiating committee, and the rank-and-file against each other," ILWU President Robert McEllrath said in a video that was posted on the union’s website.
"We want to go to work, and they’re blaming us," he continued. "There’s space on the docks to unload vessels, there’s cargo to be delivered, and we’re here to do it."
Lawmakers representing districts near ports on the West Coast lauded the Administration's move to get involved.
"I spoke to Secretary Perez on Thursday about the negotiations at our port and the need for a quick resolution," Rep. Janice Hahn (D-Calif.) said in a statement. "I am encouraged by this development and I hope that Secretary Perez will work to keep both sides at the table and help them find a resolution that keeps our ports open and our workers on the job."
For more of The Hill story: thehill.com
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