In the wake of a disruptive labor dispute at West Coast ports, Senate Republicans have introduced a bill that would give state governors the ability to end labor disputes involving US ports.
In February, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents the owners of ports up and down the West Coast, signed a five-year contract after more than nine months of negotiations.
As tensions during the talks escalated — the union ordered a work slow down and owners threatened to lock out union workers from their facilities — the import and export of goods traveling through West Coast slowed down, threatening inventories for everything from automobiles to electronics.
Now U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colorado) and US Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee) have co-sponsored a bill that would radically limit the ability of labor unions at US ports to conduct work actions such as slowdowns, walkouts and strikes.
Bill Would Expand Taft-Hartley
The Protecting Orderly and Responsible Transit of Shipments (PORTS) Act seeks to expand the Taft-Hartley Act, which currently authorizes the president to step in and resolve labor disputes that threaten US national security or economic stability. Under the proposed bill, the governors of all 50 states would share in the president’s ability to step in.
The objective of the bill is to “safeguard the American economy from the threat of labor shutdowns and slowdowns at seaports,” according to a news release from Gardner’s office.
The bill already has received the support of the National Retail Federation, the Agriculture Transportation Coalition, the National Association of Manufacturers, the US Chamber of Commerce, and dozens of other organizations, according to Gardner.
Union Officials Blast Bill
Not surprisingly, one group that doesn’t support the bill is the ILA, the union representing the dock workers during the recent negotiations.
Edward Wytkind, president of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, blasted the two senators for trying to “eviscerate the collective bargaining rights of port employees.”
“By vesting governors with unique powers previously reserved for the president, Senator Gardner’s proposal would pervert the collective bargaining process by subjecting it to potentially sinister political motives that have no place in labor-management negotiations,” Wytkind said in a statement. ”
Presidential Intervention
In fact, President Barack Obama did intervene after the two sides became deadlocked and a federal mediator failed to get both sides to reach an agreement.
He dispatched Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez to oversee the talks., which were being held in San Francisco. Perez reportedly told both sides that if they failed to reach a deal by midnight Friday, he would move the talks to Washington, D.C., where they would be more exposed to pressure from elected officials to reach a resolution quickly before further damage to the US economy could occur.
On the day Perez arrived, he reportedly told both sides to reach a deal by midnight or he would move the talks to Washington, D.C., where they would be more exposed to pressure from elected officials to reach a resolution quickly before further damage to the US economy could occur. The contract was signed that same day.
Effects Felt Throughout the Supply Chain
The agreement followed weeks of tension at the 29 West Coast ports from San Diego to Seattle. Owners charged that dockworkers were purposely working slower and withholding the most skilled workers to create a log jam at West Coast cargo container facilities, while the union blamed ownership for the delays because they locked out workers on weekends.
The contract between workers and management expired July 1. Talks between the two sides have been ongoing since May 12. In January, the US Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service stepped in with the hopes of finding a way to untangle the stalled contract negotiations.
West Coast ports handle more than two-thirds of all US retail container cargo and most of the cargo arriving from Asia, so the effects of the slowdown were felt up and down the supply chain and in retail markets.
The last time the ports went dark was in 2002, when strike shut down West Coast ports for 10 days. That created a backlog that took several months to be cleared. That disruption cost the US economy an estimated $15 billion in reported losses.
The ILWU represents 14,000 port workers at 29 ports from San Diego to Seattle.