Where’s Pete? Dockworkers Slow Down Major West Coast Ports

While Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg travels the country giving speeches to local audiences, he is also celebrating the federal spending on the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Bill. Meanwhile, another major delay is affecting cargo at West Coast port.

UND is pleased to welcome US Department of Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg on campus!

Today, @SecretaryPete made a multimillion dollar rail infrastructure grant announcement for @grandforkscity. @northdakotadot @bnsfrailway @USDOT @SenKevinCramer pic.twitter.com/RkUdIdHpE7

U of North Dakota @UofNorthDakota June 5, 2023

The cause of the current incident is not a backlog of cargo ships but a continuing labor dispute between Pacific Maritime Association and International Longshore Workers Union.

Please read the following statement from Pacific Maritime Association. pic.twitter.com/1aAQaT9wNM

Pacific Maritime Association @WestCoastPorts June 5, 2023

In a Monday statement, the PMA blamed ILWU’s slowdown in cargo processing at West Coast Ports, which, according to the PMA, could lead to a shift of shipping from West Coast Ports, possibly permanently.

The ILWU tweeted that they are merely looking for better terms in a collective bargaining contract.

ILWU remains committed to negotiating a good agreement for ILWU workers as contract talks continue

Pandemic profits are at the forefront

SAN FRANCISCO (June 2, 2023) – The Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), which represents more than 70 multinational ocean carriers and maritime firms…

ILWU Coast Longshore Division June 2, 2023

The Wall Street Journal reported on this last week.

In an intensifying confrontation over contract negotiations, dockworkers have taken a new wave of actions that has halted cargo handling in major West Coast ports. Dockworkers shut down the Port of Oakland temporarily and hampered the handling of goods at some of the busiest trade entrances of the United States.

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Dockworkers did not show up to work, according to shipping industry officials. This led the port operations into Friday morning after Thursday night.

An official from a cargo-handling facility in Los Angeles-Long Beach told reporters on Friday that the terminal was operating at half its normal speed. Several terminals in Southern California were open Friday morning, but stopped accepting trucks after a few short hours due to the slowdown.

Buttigieg’s department, which administers infrastructure funds, took two months of unannounced paternity leaves during the 2021 cargo crisis. In 2022, he was in Portugal on vacation during a possible rail workers’ strike which would have crippled U.S. economic growth.