Tuesday, October 01, 2002
Re: West Coast Port Shut Down Update

Dear NASA Member:

The situation on the West Coast remains unchanged. The PMA continues to lockout the ILWU, which means that all West Coast ports remain closed. The PMA is refusing to let the ILWU back to work unless they agree to sign the 24 hour contract extensions that had been used up until the end of August.

Another option is that the President could step in, but the problem here is that the Taft-Hartley Act is designed for use in the case of a strike. Technically this situation is a lockout by management, which the PMA states is due to the slowdowns that were occurring last week. The ILWU denies that any slowdowns had taken place.

There haven’t been any major port call changes yet, but if the situation continues in its present state then the steamship lines will be forced to reroute their vessels. This would place tremendous pressure on the rest of the ports around the country and would likely cause severe delays and backups at these locations. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and advise you of any changes as soon as we know.

Kind regards,
Judy Mannix, Administrator
North American Shippers Association