Issue 371, October 9, 2002
As Reported by The Associated Press, October 8, 2002 at 11:25 p.m.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal judge approved President Bush's request Tuesday to reopen West Coast ports, ending a bitter 10-day lockout that has cost the fragile U.S. economy $1 billion to $2 billion a day.

Three hours after Justice Department officials filed the request in federal court, Judge William Alsup ruled the government had proven use of the Taft-Hartley Act was necessary to stop the lockout's impact on the economy. Bush became the first president in a quarter-century to use the act to intervene in a labor dispute.

"It is abundantly clear that the present lockout ... affects entire industries," Alsup said. "Docks are rotting with perishables."

The judge issued a temporary restraining order that expires Oct. 16, when he scheduled a hearing. Lawyers for both sides said they expect Alsup to impose the 80-day cooling-off period as mandated by Taft-Hartley at that time.

The Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping companies and terminal operators, said it will order workers to report to shifts that start at 6 p.m. Wednesday in most ports. Given the backup, the number of job slots will be substantial, association spokesman Steve Sugerman said.

"This dispute between management and labor cannot be allowed to further harm the economy and force thousands of working Americans from their jobs," Bush said earlier Tuesday in a hastily arranged announcement.

His politically charged speech coincided with an announcement that the 10,500-member dockworkers' union agreed to an eleventh-hour truce to return to work for 30 days under the expired contract's terms.

But the association insisted on a 90-day extension. That led the Bush administration to petition the court for help.

"They wanted to Taft-Hartley the union all along," union spokesman Steve Stallone said. "All along, they wanted the government to come in and solve the problem for them."

Stallone said after Alsup's ruling that the association will try to harass the union by accusing workers of not meeting previous productivity levels while they try to clear crowded docks.

"I can guarantee you that they will start going to the judge and claiming there are slowdowns," Stallone said.

Association officials applauded Bush's move. "We have to got to get this behind us," association president Joseph Miniace said.

The petition, signed by five Bush Cabinet secretaries, asked the court to require work to "resume at a normal pace." Shipping companies locked out dockworkers after accusing them of a slowdown that was hurting productivity. The union said it was following safety and health regulations.

In supporting documents, Commerce Secretary Don Evans said that if allowed to continue, the work stoppage "would have a significant negative effect on the U.S. economic recovery and would lead to a decline in the rate of growth."

Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta noted that "more than $12 billion in goods and services that would otherwise have found their way into the U.S. economy from the West Coast ports could not do so."

The most often-cited study estimates total harm to the economy at between $1 billion and $2 billion a day. The study, prepared for the association by Martin Associates of Lancaster, Pa., estimated the cost of a five-day work stoppage at $4.7 billion and a 10-day stoppage at $19 billion.

A court-ordered truce would keep ports open during the crucial Christmas season, when retailers rely on imported goods to stock their shelves.

White House advisers welcomed the chance to deflect questions about Bush's economic policies, which have either stalled in the Senate or have failed to jump-start the economy.

Bush's intervention is also expected to energize organized labor, traditionally a Democratic ally, just four weeks before midterm elections. Democratic candidates depend on heavy turnout from union workers, and some presidential advisers fear Bush's intervention will drive angry labor voters to the polls.

Organized labor considers Taft-Hartley an anti-union mechanism for resolving disputes.

"No president has ever been on this side of management this overtly," said Richard Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO.

Hopes for an end to the standoff soothed investors Tuesday, prompting them to buy stocks and give the market its first advance in five sessions. The Dow Jones index closed up 78 points.

Bush sought a court order after an inquiry board handpicked by the White House reported the standoff was unlikely to end soon.

The last time a president sought to intervene under Taft-Hartley was in 1978, when a court refused President Carter's request for an 80-day cooling-off period in a coal miner's strike, but ordered miners back to work under a temporary restraining order.

Contract talks with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union broke down over the question of how to modernize West Coast ports using new cargo tracking systems and other technology. The union says the new technology will cost its members some jobs now, and wants new positions created by the technology are union-covered. The association says that the union shouldn't dictate who controls the jobs.

Workers may need as long as 10 weeks to clear the backlog of goods caused by the port shutdown. Ships carrying food and other perishables will be unloaded first when dockworkers return.

"Certainly it takes longer to unclog it than to clog it," PMA spokesman John Pachtner said.

AP Labor Writer Leigh Strope in Washington and Associated Press writer Justin Pritchard in San Francisco contributed to this story.

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