NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
West Coast ports reopened, but the dockworkers who reported for work for the first time in 10 days made clear that the labor dispute that has choked off U.S.-Asian trade is far from over.
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| A dockworker returns to work at the Port of Oakland Wednesday evening, as a 10-day lockout came to a court-ordered end. |
Spokesmen for the Pacific Maritime Association, the employer group that represents major shipping lines and port terminal operators, and other sources at the ports said Thursday that there was apparently none of the feared work slowdowns by the first shift that reported after gates reopened at 6 p.m. PT (9 p.m. ET) Wednesday. A PMA spokesman described work flows as "adequate," while another port official, who asked that his name not be used, said that productivity was "close to normal.
"There were a few scattered problems, but apparently no slowdown," said the port official.
It was too early to say how the work was proceeding with the main morning shift Thursday, according to the officials.
Management had locked out the union after charging it with slowdowns, which it termed an attempt to have a "strike with pay." The union denied that charge. The lockout ended after President Bush sought and won a court order reopening the ports under the seldom-used Taft-Hartley Act.
The leadership of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) made clear it intends to follow a path that will bring renewed management charges of a slowdown. It posted a statement on its Web site telling its 10,500 members at 29 ports from Seattle to San Diego to follow strict safety rules when returning to work.
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 President Bush seeks a court order to force operators of ports to reopen as soon as Wednesday.
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"PMA will start alleging 'slowdowns' by Thursday and will continue that," said the union statement. "Taft-Hartley gives them 80 days of free shots at the union and we expect the employers will be dragging us to court daily, trying to bankrupt the union and throw our leaders in jail."
The labor dispute centers on PMA's demand for greater use of technology at the ports. While the two sides are required to participate in federally mediated talks under the court order that reopened the ports, no new talks have yet been scheduled. Federally mediated talks ended late Sunday with the two sides far from an agreement.
The work stoppage at the ports has cost the already-struggling U.S. economy an estimated $2 billion a day as shipments between Asia and the United States ground to a halt. Those problems will not end even with the port reopening, as gaps in companies' supply chains work themselves through the system.
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More than 200 ships were anchored off the coast Wednesday waiting to load or unload cargo when gates reopened. Management says under the best case scenario it could take six weeks to work through the backlog of freight, and it will take far longer than that if the union members don't work at normal productivity levels.
But union officials, who have denied all charges of a slowdown, say that working at normal productivity levels will be impossible due to the backlog of freight, which they say poses safety problems for their members. They have called on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to have inspectors on the dock to monitor work conditions.
"It was unsafe out there before. We've had five people die in the last six months from the speed up that has happened," union spokesman Steve Stallone said. "It's going to be hell out there now, and we don't want to bury any more people for PMA's productivity."
The port closings hit retailers as they built inventory for the key holiday shopping season, as well as the shippers of perishable commodities and parts needed to keep U.S. factories operating. The ports handle about 21 percent of goods imported into the United States and about 9 percent of all goods exported, as determined by value.
Getting even the containers that are already off the ship out of the ports may not be easy though. An official with the California Trucking Association described the situation for truckers trying to pick up or drop off freight Thursday as "chaos."
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| Trucks wait in line outside the Port of Los Angeles Thursday. |
"A lot of people aren't sending trucks down because there's too much congestion," said CTA Vice President Stephanie Williams. "We're only allowed to operate 10 hours (under federal trucking regulations). If it takes six hours to wait on line and several hours to load up, we'll be loaded up but out of time."
She said the small trucking companies that move containers of freight to and from the ports will have to be imposing surcharges to make up for the congestion delays or be forced out of business. The CTA is also fighting storage charges of up to $144 a day being charged some of the trucking companies by the shipping lines for not picking up or returning containers to the port during the lockout.
"We need the government to intervene," she said. "It's bad enough to lock you out and you're not able to earn anything, but to then fine you for locking you out is disgraceful." She said the fines the ship lines are demanding is adding to congestion because trucks that wait in line are being turned away if there are outstanding payments due by their company.
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