West Coast ports facing
shutdown in labor dispute
This picture shows
the congestion that the West Coast ports are facing.
Summary: In the article, “West Coast ports facing shutdown
in labor dispute,” by Andrew Khouri of the Los
Angeles Times, via Duluth News
Tribune, explains that there might be a possible shut down of ports in the
Los Angleles and Long Beach areas of California. With the main ports in Los
Angeles and Long Beach, 27 others are nearing the action of shutting down the
ports, completely. This shut down could and will interupt the nation’s trade
with Asia’s ports, and will damage the regional economy. The Pacific Maritime
Association which is an employer group the represents the shipping lines has
been dicussing contract with the West Coast dockerworkers for the past nine
months that they would cease the unloading of ships because they do not want to
pay overtime. These dockworkers have
accordingly been slowing down the opertations that take place at the ports. The
ports are at a point, this Friday, where they have become almost inoperable.
The article points out that the blue collar workers of the West Coast are most
vulnerable to the shut down. The shut down will affect major companies who rely
on the ports.
Analysis: I agree with the fact that this will clearly have
an affect on companies that rely on the ports of the West Coast, who receive
most of their shipments from Asia. I have a personal connection to this as
well. My friend who graduated last year got my friend and I involved in his
friend’s eco-friendly business, Sprout Products. My friend and I were to go the
warehouse and help package and manage the shipments they received. We were
supposed to start about two weeks ago, but the shipments were from L.A., and
therefore were not arriving at the warehouse in Illinois. The issue is clearly
affecting bussinesses that ship throughout the U.S. and to other parts of the
globe. If this continues I believe that the ports will completely shut down
could potentially be as severe and posssibly worse than the congestion of the
ports of the West Coast in 2002, which took 100 days to rebuild itself.
Discussion Questions:
Due to the fact that the West Coast is an important port for
Asia, how do you think they will handle this situation with their shipment of
products?
How do you believe other ports in the U.S. may be affected?
Article Link: http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/business/3674450-west-coast-ports-facing-shutdown-labor-dispute
It's interesting that you have such a personal connection to the issue. I had never heard of this issue before, but clearly it is affecting the area close to me. Hopefully a compromise can be reached between the management and workers so that production can go back to normal. I know that the U.S. trades a lot with Asia, so it's crucial to our economy that a deal can be reached.
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