BUSH SEEKS INJUNCTION TO REOPEN WEST COAST PORTS
President Bush has decided to seek a court injunction to reopen U.S. West Coast ports that have been idled for 11 days by a bitter labor dispute.
Under powers granted the president in the Taft-Hartley Act, Bush said Tuesday he will direct the attorney general to seek an injunction that would require the parties to resume normal operations at the ports for 80 days.
However, one source reported that the union representing the West Coast longshoremen have agreed to go back to work today under a 30-day contract extension.
Bush on Monday signed an executive order creating a board of inquiry to assess and report on the dispute between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore & Warehouse Union.
The board of inquiry reported Tuesday to Bush that 'we have no confidence that the parties will resolve the West Coast ports dispute within a reasonable time.'
The two sides have been trying to negotiate a contract to replace the one that expired June 30. The PMA and ILWU had continued operations under temporary extensions of that contract through Sept 2. The ILWU on Sept. 27 engaged in a 'safety program' that the PMA claimed cut productivity at ports by 60 percent. The PMA responded by locking labor out of the port.
The board of inquiry said 'the seeds of distrust have been widely sown, poisoning the atmosphere of mutual trust and respect which could enable a resolution to seemingly intractable issues. For example, the parties have been unable to agree even on such matters as the length of proposed temporary contract extensions although both know that their standoff costs the nation billions of dollars.'
Mediation talks between the PMA, which represents port employers, and the ILWU broke down Sunday night and Peter Hurtgen, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, suspended negotiations with no resolution in sight.
President Bush's executive order is a first step in the authority granted him under the Taft-Hartley Act in cases where work stoppages imperil national health and safety.
If an injunction is issued, the PMA and ILWU enter an 80-day cooling off period, in which they are required to resume 'normal operations,' and must work with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to resolve the dispute.
West Coast ports handle some $300 billion in cargo a year. Estimates of the impact of the 11-day lockout have ranged for $1 billion to $2 billion a day, the board of inquiry reported.
Former Tennessee Senator Bill Brock chairs the three-member board of inquiry. He is a former U.S. Secretary of labor and U.S. Trade Representative.
Also serving on the board are Patrick Hardin, a professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law, and Dennis Nolan, a professor of the University of South Carolina School of Law.