Possibility of Port Strike Grows

West Coast ports marked Labor Day by bracing for labor disruptions that could come this week after contract talks broke down between shipping lines and the dockworkers' union.

The latest contract extension covering the dockworkers at 29 major West Coast ports who handle the booming Pacific Rim trade expired at 5 p.m. Sunday.

With no contract, the 10,500 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union could stage work slowdowns. If they do, the shipping lines that employ them say they will lock out the dockworkers.

The ports handle more than $300 billion in trade annually, and a work stoppage would ripple through an already fragile American economy. Though the contract expired July 1, both sides had kept goods flowing with short-term extensions.

A union spokesman, Steve Stallone, said that while no slowdown had been scheduled, "we are completely free to take any job action that is legal."

The lead negotiator for the Pacific Maritime Association said Sunday he expects that slowdowns could begin soon after Labor Day, which was a holiday for the dockworkers.

"The union just fired the first shot," said Joseph Miniace, the association's president. "I think this could be a turning point in negotiations."

He thought dockworkers would beginning slowing down the pace of their work to pressure the shipping lines starting Tuesday. If that happens, Miniace said, shipping lines would give a three-day warning period -- and if there were still slowdowns by week's end, shipping lines will keep their promise of a lock out.

The sticking points are arbitration, new technology that could costs jobs and health benefits.

On average, a full-time longshoreman earned $80,000 last year and a full-time foreman averaged $167,000, according to maritime association records. Associated Press