Ports up and down the US west coast were ready to re-open today dockers return to work after President Bush stepped in to stop a management lockout which has cost the US economy billions of dollars.
Ports up and down the US west coast were ready to re-open today dockers return to work after President Bush stepped in to stop a management lockout which has cost the US economy billions of dollars.
The Pacific Maritime Association, which represents employers at 29 West Coast ports from San Diego to Seattle, was ordered to reopen dock facilities after President Bush invoked the Taft-Hartley Act to impose an 80-day cooling off period.
Port management officials said the ports - which handle $300 billion of trade annually - would gradually resume operations today.
It could take six to seven weeks to clear the backlog of cargo, which has been piling up just at the start of the crucial US holiday shopping season, PMA officials say.
Some 200 ships carrying everything from auto parts to plastic toys to frozen food were sitting lined up off West Coast ports waiting to take on or unload cargo held up by the labor dispute.
The PMA and the ILWU, one of the best paid and most powerful unions in the country, had been at loggerheads over the issue of new port technology and union control over any new jobs that technology might create.
After months of unsuccessful contract negotiations that culminated in a management lockout on September 29th, Mr Bush intervened in the dispute. Negotiations between the two will continue, and the port lockdown could resume if they emerge from the 80-day hiatus without a firm contract agreement.
Labour groups have already criticised Mr Bush's decision, which came less than a month before an election that will determine which party controls the US Congress.