Statement of Senator Tim Hutchinson
October 4, 2002
Today, many of my colleagues have joined me in introducing a resolution (23k PDF file) urging the President to invoke the Taft Hartley emergency dispute resolution procedures in response to the complete shutdown of twenty-nine West Coast ports due to a labor dispute. I deeply regret that this legislation is necessary, but the grave economic consequences of the shutdown and the serious ramifications on our country's ability to improve homeland security have made it so.
It is estimated that 7% of our nation’s gross domestic product flow through these ports. However, that does not begin to calculate the cost to the workers and families who are and will be affected by this impasse. Transportation of products to West Coast ports has been shut down. The jobs of railroad employees, barge employees, and independent truck drivers, whose livelihoods all depend upon the flow of goods in and out these ports, are being endangered by this dispute. In addition, manufacturers who are unable to move product are facing unexpected storage costs that have already resulted in thousands of layoffs.
In the agriculture sector, the inability to ship grains, vegetables, livestock, and other perishables is having a catastrophic effect on farmers and ranchers, many of whom are already facing consecutive years of drought and economic hardship. The ability to move agricultural products and sell them to foreign markets when prices are best is essential to the health of rural communities across our country. In addition, the inability to move these products off our own domestic market threatens to push commodity and livestock prices even lower. Agricultural producers and marketers have spent millions of dollars to open and develop Asian markets amidst heavy competition from Canada, Australia, and many other countries vying for access. This dispute is threatening thousands of jobs and years of work to increase trade with these emerging markets.
At a time when the country is already experiencing economic hardships, this shutdown is jeopardizing the jobs and livelihoods of thousands of citizens across our country. From auto-workers in Michigan and Missouri to rice and wheat farmers in Arkansas and Kansas, the human cost of this dispute far exceeds the financial and technical issues that have provoked it.
This resolution calls on the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union to adopt 24-hour extensions of the expired collective bargaining agreement and end the current lockout while they go through mediation.
It also urges the President to appoint a board of inquiry and begin the emergency dispute settling procedures called for under the Taft Hartley Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, if he determines that mediation has failed.
My colleagues and I have taken this action out of concern for our home states and the safety and health of the nation. Much of the industry in my home state of Arkansas relies on product import and export, and much of it travels through west coast docks. Arkansas is already feeling the effect of the shutdown, and it is critical that labor dispute be solved before even more damage is done.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a copy of the resolution be printed in the Record at the conclusion of my remarks.