A lockout of U.S. West Coast dockworkers continued Monday morning, putting more pressure on a U.S. economy already struggling to pull out of recession.
The Pacific Maritime Association, representing 29 West Coast ports that handle about $300 billion in shipping per year, locked out dockworkers indefinitely Sunday, accusing them of not working hard enough.
Reuters reported that work would resume Monday morning at the Port of Los Angeles, but a port police spokeswoman said she was unaware that the lockout was over.
Officials at several West Coast ports, the PMA and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), which represents more than 10,000 dockworkers, were unavailable for comment.
The PMA has estimated that a shutdown costs the U.S. economy $1 billion every day.
A prolonged shutdown, coming during the pre-holiday shipping period, also could hurt the shipping companies that transport goods to the ports.
"The longer this goes on, the worse it's going to be for shippers," said Ed Rastatter, director of policy development and research at the National Industrial Transportation League. "They're still getting in holiday cargoes and freight. The longer they delay, the worse it's going to be to dig out from the mess."
The PMA has been locked in a prolonged struggle with the ILWU about its plans to introduce technological innovations to West Coast ports. The ILWU wants the PMA to guarantee that new jobs created by the innovations will be union jobs.
The PMA locked dockworkers out Friday and then briefly allowed work to resume Sunday. But the PMA accused workers of working too slowly and crews of not sending enough people to work, saying they had effectively created a work shutdown.
The union countered by saying work was proceeding more slowly because of the high volume of cargo entering ports. CNN