West Coast Ports Temporarily Suspended In Weekend Vessel Operations
LONG BEACH (CBSLA.com) — Ports along the west coast were temporarily shut down Saturday in light of continued union slowdowns.
On Friday, the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) announced that weekend vessel loading and unloading operations would be temporarily suspended, as they would no longer pay port operators overtime for their slow productivity.
"After three months of union slowdowns it makes no sense to pay extra for less work," said PMA spokesman Wade Gates. "Especially if there is no end in sight to the union's actions, which needlessly brought West coast ports to the brink of gridlock."
The union claims this is not the case though, as workers continuously unload vessels and feel they have not lapsed in work ethic.
KCAL9's Joy Benedict spent a very quiet morning at the port in Long Beach, where about 30 ships were lined up in the harbor.
Benedict went on to report these ships will have to wait until next week to be unloaded due to the weekend suspension, which will more than likely create a backlog for businesses in the coming week.
Although shipping operations have been partially shut down, the PMA has allowed for yard, rail and gate operations to continue throughout the weekend at the discretion of port operators.
Vessel operations are scheduled to resume on Monday.