Bush Will Seek Injunction To Stop Port Shutdown
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- President Bush will seek a court injunction to stop a West Coast dock shutdown for an 80-day "cooling off" period, administration officials say.
A board of inquiry hand-picked by President Bush told the White House Tuesday that a labor standoff between West Coast longshoremen and shipping companies has no chance of ending soon, handing Mr. Bush ammunition to seek the injunction.
A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mr. Bush tentatively decided to pursue the injunction to end the lockout at all 29 West Coast ports. The White House is expected to announce the decision later Tuesday.
That would mark the first presidential effort in a quarter-century to end a work stoppage under the Taft-Hartley Act.
The board's brief report does not go into detail about the economic and national-security impact of the shutdown, but it does hold out little hope for a resolution of the conflict, said the source, discussing the situation only on grounds of anonymity.
White House press secretary Ari Fleischer declined to speak about Mr. Bush's intentions. "He looks forward to receiving the report from the board that he named. He expects to receive the report sometime today and he looks forward to reviewing it," Mr. Fleischer said.
Mr. Bush was expected to ask a federal court in San Francisco to end the lockout. A cooling-off period would keep the ports open during the crucial Christmas season, in which retailers are relying on imported goods to stock their shelves.
The trade-off for the Bush administration is that a court-ordered truce could energize organized labor -- traditionally a Democratic ally -- just four weeks before midterm elections. Democratic candidates rely on heavy turnout from union workers, and some presidential advisers fear Mr. Bush's intervention will drive angry labor voters to the polls.
On balance, however, White House advisers welcomed the chance to head off a burgeoning crisis and perhaps ease concerns about his handling of the economy. Polls show a growing number of voters want Mr. Bush to spend more time talking about the economy than Iraq. His economic policies have either stalled in the Senate or have failed to jump-start the economy. Now he has an economic cause to promote.
Businesses Complain
Businesses across the country have complained that they were starting to feel squeezed by the shutdown and pressed the White House to step in to help end the stalemate, which some analysts have estimated was costing as much as $2 billion a day.
The lockout, if permitted to continue, "will imperil the national health and safety," Mr. Bush wrote in his executive order Monday establishing the board.
The Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping companies and terminal operators, locked out 10,500 members of the longshoremen's union last week, claiming the dockworkers were engaging in a slowdown.
The longshoremen's contract expired July 1, although it had been extended several times before Labor Day. The sticking point in negotiations is whether jobs created by new technology will be unionized. The average full-time dockworker in the International Longshore and Warehouse Union makes $80,000 a year. The most experienced foremen can earn $167,000.
Just hours after federally mediated talks in San Francisco collapsed between workers and management, Mr. Bush intervened and appointed the inquiry board -- a step rarely taken by presidents and the first such move in the case of a lockout.
"The ports are going to be open soon and this crisis we are in will be over," PMA President Joseph Miniace said. But James Spinosa, president of the ILWU, said: "The government, along with the corporate world, are trying to break unions."
Historically, cooling-off periods have failed to permanently end labor disputes.
Eleven coast-wide dock strikes have occurred since the Taft-Hartley Act allowing presidential intervention was passed in 1947. In all of those cases the president sought court orders after convening an inquiry board, according to the Labor Department. But in at least eight of those instances, the 80-day cooling-off period failed to resolve the disputes and the strikes resumed.
"Experience shows that this simply delays the settlement process," said Michael LeRoy, professor of labor and industrial relations at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "It does not end the dispute by any means. Typically what happens is the parties go back to their corners and stew."
Jimmy Carter was the last president to seek to use Taft-Hartley to end a work stoppage, in the coal industry in 1978. The court refused to order the cooling-off period but did order miners back to work under a temporary restraining order.
The number of cargo vessels stranded at West Coast docks or backing up at anchor points has risen to 200. Dozens more were still en route from Asia. Already, storage facilities at beef, pork and poultry processing facilities across the country are full -- crammed with produce that can't be exported.
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[accompanying Wall Street Journal explainer]
The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 was designed as a presidential tool of last resort to force workers back on the job if a strike threatens the economy or national security. Presidents have used the act 35 times, though it hasn't been invoked since the coal miners strike in 1978 -- a sign of the doubts surrounding its effectiveness, critics say.
Step by Step
* President forms board to investigate dispute * President asks court to force workers back to work for an 80-day "cooling-off" period * Mediators work with the two sides to try to reach a settlement * After 60 days, the NLRB polls workers on employer's last offer * If workers reject the offer, they are free to strike again or management can impose a lockout
A Lukewarm Record
Taft-Hartley has had mixed results. Its use often led to settlements, but in a few cases courts refused to order a cooling-off period, and in several others, workers struck again after being forced back to work.
[pie chart in original showing following results of T-H invocations]
settlement 22 court refused to order cooling-off period 3 strike resumed after cooling-off period 10