Fed mediator calls for break in port labor negotiations

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal mediator has called for a one-week break in contract talks between shipping lines and West Coast dockworkers after the two sides failed to agree on a pension package.

Mediator Peter Hurtgen called for the break Tuesday, saying that the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents the shipping lines and terminal operators, needed time to review the union's pension package demands.

Shipping lines offered a pension increase of nearly 25 percent in October. The increase brought the retirement pay for a fully-vested longshoreman to about $50,000 per year.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union said it expected a larger increase in exchange for accepting a breakthrough deal on technology.

Decision to track cargo

The two sides agreed last Friday to track waterfront cargo more efficiently using technology that would make hundreds of union jobs obsolete. They called it the first progress since a 10-day lockout of dockworkers last month shut down 29 major Pacific ports.

The current break is indicative of lingering frustration between the shipping lines and dockworkers, even though some progress has been made in contract negotiations.

Spokesmen for shipping lines and the 10,500-member union declined comment on the break, citing Hurtgen's request for a media blackout during the talks.

The ports handle more than $300 billion in trade each year. Some economists estimated that the U.S. economy lost $1 billion each day as cargo piled up at the docks and ships waited at anchor offshore during the port shutdown. Some factories had to close due to a lack of supplies.