Sides 'far apart' in West Coast port negotiations

Source: AP-Excite

By JUSTIN PRITCHARD

LOS ANGELES (AP) — While West Coast seaports struggle to keep up with billions of dollars of cargo, dockworkers and their employers apparently aren't close to a new contract nearly six months after their old deal expired.

Longshoremen have continued to work without a contract at 29 ports from San Diego to Seattle that are a vital trade link with Asia, though their employers say workers have deliberately slowed their pace over the past few months.

The ports handled $892 billion in imports and exports during 2013, according to U.S. trade data. Cargo volume has been heavy this year as the economy improves — and due to a range of problems, that cargo is having a hard time getting where it needs to go efficiently.

While work speed has been an issue in several major ports, so has an ongoing lack of truck beds to haul containers of goods from dockside yards to distribution warehouses. Hardest hit have been U.S. exporters of apples, potatoes and other produce, who can't get their perishable goods to foreign markets in time. Some importers also have been affected, though not so badly to cause widespread shortages of holiday goods.

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Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20141218/us--port_labor-1149c0fff8.html