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Medea Benjamin, global sweatshop activist,
Global Exchange founding dir. & Green candidate

So•Cal L A B O R    
Alameda Corridor Jobs Coalition
Illegal immigrants can then speak against employers w/o fearing deportation
2.18.00   Dena Bunis Orange Cty Register

A booming economy and tight labor market could help fuel this week's call by organized labor for a new immigration amnesty. Such an amnesty, the first since 1986, would make legal an estimated 6 million undocumented workers and their families throughout the U.S.
The vote by the AFL-CIO's executive council represents a turnaround by the federation that speaks for organized workers. This same group supported employer sanctions against illegal-immigrant hiring 15 years ago. Immigration advocates have been pushing for such an amnesty for years. It would have to be enacted by Congress.
Election-year politics makes that a dicey proposition, although Republicans have been attempting to court the immigrant vote this year. And Democrats want to hold on to that vote as part of their base. Business leaders, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, applauded labor's move. "This is an area where the business community and organized labor can work together," said Randy Johnson, vice president of labor policy for the chamber.

At Applied Medical Resources in Laguna Hills, Patrick McNenny needs more employees and would welcome such an amnesty. Family members and friends of current employees who would make prime candidates for his company cannot be considered because of their immigration status. "We manufacture 100 percent of our goods in Laguna Hills and we would like to continue to manufacture in the United States," said McNenny, vice president for operations.
The labor proposal immediately drew fire from those who believe the 1986 amnesty was wrong and that there are already too many immigrants taking jobs away from citizens.
"It would be a betrayal of all American workers," said Barbara Coe of Huntington Beach and a leader of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform. "The bottom line is it would depress wages and take away the jobs that rightfully belong to American citizens."
The 1986 amnesty, says Frank D. Bean, demographics professor at the University of California, Irvine, did create some competition for jobs among the newly legalized immigrants and other immigrant workers. But he doesn't expect an amnesty now would have a major impact, given the current economy and job availability. Whether an amnesty is granted is likely to hinge on political, not economic, factors, Bean suggests. "What it does remove," Bean said, "is what historically has been one of the strong voices in favor of immigration restrictions. That's the voice of organized labor."

The AFL-CIO proposal would also repeal a 1986 law that requires all new employees to produce documents proving they are legally entitled to work in the U.S. Organized labor supported that system in 1986. But, they say, it has turned into a way to silence worker complaints and make organizing workplaces with many immigrants difficult.

Coe says it's labor's "greed" to add more members that is driving this proposal. In recent years as more immigrants have joined the work force, particularly in the service sector, unions say they have tried to organize those workers only to find many are afraid to come foward and talk about working conditions.
An employer may be willing to look the other way when presented with suspicious documents by an immigrant. But that same employer suddenly will question those same documents if an immigrant worker complains about conditions, advocates and labor leaders say.
"Employers use their status as a threat to co-opt them to keep silent," said Linda Sanchez, the incoming head of the Orange County Central Labor Council. An amnesty that freed workers from that fear would help improve conditions for all workers, she added.

" Despite 2 decades of plant closures & loss of most of its heavy industry, L.A. is still the largest manufacturing center in U.S.
717K workers walk through the gates of LA's factories every day, dwarfing the 400K strong industrial workforce of Chicago's Cook County, now the nation's second largest manufacturing concentration. Over half of LA's industrial workers are immigrants.
Trapped in an apartheid-like subclass of minimum wages, bone-crushing injuries and intense speed up, they have become the backbone of militant labor protest in L.A..

This is not a reality unknown to the city's unions, who have had to choose between being pushed into irrelevance by shrinking membership, or organizing these new workers. Increasingly, they have chosen the latter course.
Their plan is called the L.A. Manufacturing Action Project (LAMAP) "

David Bacon, Mountain of Concrete   ¶ 40
 Unionizing L.A. guards isn't easy
The Service Employees Intl drive is up against landlords who dislike having janitors and guards in the same organization.
9.17.05   Cara Mia DiMassa L.A. Times

They are sentinels of the new downtown Los Angeles: the thousands of security guards who stand outside lofts in the Old Bank District, patrol the granite and marble foyers of Bunker Hill high rises and keep watch over the bustling Broadway shopping district. The Service Employees Intl Union has made it a top goal to unionize the area's office guards, setting the stage for a labor battle that downtown hasn't seen since cleaning crews went on strike 5 years ago. But it's proving more difficult than the union expected.
The union mounted a nationwide campaign to organize workers 3 years ago, arguing the guards have long been underpaid and denied benefits. Using as its model the successful effort in gaining representation for office janitors, the union has succeeded in cities like Chicago and San Francisco. But efforts in Los Angeles have been stalled for more than 2 years, as some of the city's major landlords, notably Robert Maguire, have fought unionization.

Their argument: It's wrong for janitors and guards who work in their buildings to belong to the same union. The union says it has collected cards of support from most of the guards working in targeted buildings. But those guards are employed by contract firms, which, in turn, are hired by the landlords.
The firms won't recognize the union without assurances from landlords that they will not lose their contracts if they do so, said the union's national security organizing campaign dir. Jono Shaffer. In the last few months, union officials intensified their campaign on landlords by holding rallies, prayer vigils and other events. But it's still too soon to tell whether any of those efforts will yield a resolution of the standoff.

SEIU Local 1877 estimates that there are 10,000 office guards in Los Angeles County, most of them serving downtown's high-rise towers and condos. Many of the guards, the union says, are paid low wages and must pay their own healthcare costs.
Landlords said they weren't necessarily against the unionization of their workers. But they said they worry that having both guards and janitors in the same union would test loyalties in the event of a strike by either group.
"Maguire does not oppose the unionization of its workers," said Maguire Properties spokeswoman Peggy Moretti, which owns the Gas Co. Tower, One California Plaza, the Wells Fargo Tower and other downtown buildings. "And I don't know that our guards are pushing to unionize. If they were, they have a right to unionize."

Robert Maguire was one of the most vocal supporters of the janitors' efforts in 2000. The company, said Moretti, already has arrangements in place to ensure that the guards in its buildings receive healthcare and wages higher than industry standards. The unionization effort is focused primarily in downtown but would also cover other areas, including Century City and Westwood.
A strike by janitors in 2000, which Maguire eventually helped settle, drew a national focus to the workers and is credited, in part, for breathing new life into the nation's labor movement. The strike blocked streets and gained sympathy, as janitors marched boisterously, accompanied by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and then-City Atty. James K. Hahn, and protested outside the gates of downtown office towers.

Union officials have been hoping for another victory with the guards. Shaffer said that the current bidding process between guard companies and landlords often ensures that landlords hire the company with the lowest bid. "Every dollar you take out of a bid is coming out of a worker's pocket," he said.
The union, Shaffer said, is pushing landlords, tenants and guard companies "to share the cost to minimally acceptable levels."
Lately, said union officials, they focused their efforts on landlords not just downtown but also in the South Los Angeles neighborhoods that many of the city's guards call home.
"Everybody understands, you go through South L.A., you are going to find lots of security guards," said Shaffer. "It's one of the few private-sector jobs that young African American and Chicano workers, folks getting out of high school, can get into and do get into."

Last weekend, as part of the weekend campaign, congregations at a number of predominantly African American churches, including Mt. Gilead Baptist Church, prayed for the guards' efforts. This weekend, other churches will be holding similar events. The guards, said Mt. Gilead Pastor William Monroe Campbell, "are without voice, and they are in a vulnerable place of employment."
Security guard Lillie Lewis, who is involved in the unionization efforts, has worked since 1987 in Century City's twin towers. In an interview Friday, she complained that she is constantly having to train new co-workers. "Sometimes we hire a person and they don't ever come back," she said.

As an employee of Universal Protection Services, the third firm to oversee security in the buildings since she arrived, Lewis said she makes $9.35 an hour. "It is a steady job, but it's not a living wage," she said. "We are protecting the whole building and everyone in it. But we are at the bottom of the pay level, the respect level. And it's getting worse."
Moretti, in turn, said the union's efforts "are designed to be divisive and threatening." She also expressed skepticism that the union's new efforts, including the rallies downtown, would break the impasse.
"When and if there are discussions," she said, "they will be held between parties and not through the media."

Gaming impasse beginning to thaw   Compacts won't have labor-organizing tool
6.8.07   James P. Sweeney SD UT

Sacramento   After months of strategic circling, Assembly Democrats are reaching out to some of the state's most powerful Indian tribes, seeking a compromise that could seal multibillion-dollar gambling deals that have been stalled since August.
Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, has told organized labor it will not get what it wants in the agreements and is discussing revisions on other issues that could be made without renegotiating the compacts, lawmakers and knowledgeable sources said.

That has spurred intense negotiations over the past week aimed at breaking the long impasse. The Pechanga tribe near Temecula was on the brink of a deal, although an aide to the speaker said nothing had been finalized.
“It's like any legislative discussion,” said Núñez spokesman Steve Maviglio. “They're close. Sometimes you move forward, sometimes you move back. But they're making progress.”
Núñez and Fremont Democrat Assemblyman Alberto Torrico who is the speaker's point man on the compacts, have been in talks with the tribes for months. But the negotiations took off after Núñez invited leaders of 4 of the tribes to lunch in his office Monday.
“We're talking to see what we can work out,” Danny Tucker, chairman of the Sycuan band near El Cajon, said afterward.

A few days earlier, sources said Núñez told state and national labor leaders in a conference call that he would not be able to get their key objective included in the gambling compacts, a collective-bargaining tool known as card-check neutrality. Labor leaders say card-check neutrality, ability to organize workers simply by signing up a majority on cards expressing support for a union, is necessary to protect easily intimidated casino employees, who work under surveillance cameras that permit almost constant scrutiny by management.
But the 5 tribes with pending compacts, Sycuan, Pechanga, Agua Caliente of Palm Springs, Morongo of Riverside County and San Manuel of San Bernardino County. adamantly oppose tougher labor provisions in their compacts, which already permit unions approved through secret-ballot elections.
“Sycuan employees have had the right to organize … since our compact took effect in May of 2000,” Tucker told a Senate committee in April. “For the past 7 years, no union has made any effort to organize our employees.”

Since California voters legalized Indian casinos in 2000, the state has become the nation's biggest tribal gaming market, with nearly 60 casinos that generated $7.7 billion in revenues last year. The pending compacts would allow the 5 tribes to collectively add up to 22,500 slot machines, doubling and in some cases tripling their existing operations, in one of the largest gambling expansions in state history.
In return, the tribes agreed to give the state a larger cut, projected at more than $22 billion over the life of the compacts that would expire at the end of 2030. The Dept of Finance estimates the state is losing nearly $1.3 million every day the compacts are not ratified. But that is a fraction of what the tribes, already among the nation's wealthiest, are losing.

Powerful unions pressed Núñez and his Democratic majority to block the compacts in the fall. After lawmakers reconvened this year, the Senate ratified all 5 agreements in April, returning them to the Assembly where little seemed to have changed.
Núñez and Torrico, a former union attorney, both came out of the labor movement. But Torrico said that since last year, intervening events narrowed their options. In February 2007, a 3 judge panel of a federal appeals court ruled that tribes must comply with federal labor laws. The opinion against the San Manuel tribe held that Indian casinos should be treated as commercial, rather than govt, operations under the National Labor Relations Act.

“The San Manuel decision, in my opinion, basically pre-empts state and local govts from entering into labor relations” with tribes", Torrico said earlier this week. “So even if we were to try to impose some language in the compact, I don't think it would be legally enforceable".
Moreover, he said, the decision means that tribal employees “have the same rights and protections that any other employee in the country has when it comes to organizing.”
Jack Gribbon, state political director for UNITE HERE, the primary union attempting to organize Indian casinos, has warned that the San Manuel ruling is not final and, at the moment, applies only to San Manuel, which has a contract with the Communication Workers of America.
“We're continuing to work on this,” Gribbon said. “It's enormous sums of money for a handful of tribes. It's tens of thousands of workers with no enforceable right to organize for 23 years. There's a lot of marbles on the table".

Torrico said he and Núñez still are trying to persuade the tribes to agree not to oppose organizing efforts.
“We're asking them to do it voluntarily, to be neutral when it comes to organizing,” he said.
Torrico said both sides also are exploring whether they can deal with other outstanding issues such as casino operating rules, enforcement of child and spousal support orders and problem gambling, through a memorandum of understanding outside the compacts.

Others say federal law requires any such state regulation of Indian gaming to be negotiated and outlined in a compact. The tribes are adamantly opposed to reopening the compacts.
“These MOU's or MOA's, whatever they're going to call them, are nothing more than unenforceable promises", said Cheryl Schmit of Stand Up for California, a grass-roots gambling watchdog.
Sen. Dean Florez, a Shafter Democrat who chairs a committee that held lengthy hearings on the compacts, said he didn't know whether any side deals would be enforceable. “The key question,” Florez said, “is are these addendums to the compacts or substantial changes to the compacts? We want to know how that works.”

It's also not clear whether all 5 tribes may be included if there is a breakthrough. Only the chairmen of Agua Caliente, Pechanga, San Manuel and Sycuan were invited to lunch with Núñez and Torrico. Morongo, which angered Núñez and other Democrats with a multimillion-dollar media campaign urging approval of the compacts, was deliberately excluded.
“I'm not going to talk about that,” Morongo spokesman Patrick Dorinson said of the slight. “There have been discussions, and we think things are moving in a positive direction".

Núñez also reportedly was incensed that former Democratic Speaker Willie Brown, working as a lobbyist for Morongo, was attempting to peel off Democrats to vote for the compacts. Núñez alluded to that when he was introduced by Brown at a recent roast of Senate President Pro Tempore Don Perata, D-Oakland.
“Thank you, Speaker Brown,” Núñez said. “Nice to see the casinos could spare you for the evening, or are you still on the clock?”

California prison guards' power called 'disturbing'   Federal investigator says governor backpedaled on reform by giving too much power to union.
6.22.06   Jenifer Warren, Peter Nicholas L.A. Times

Sacramento   After launching "one of the most productive periods of prison reform" in California history, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has retreated from the cause and given the guards union a "disturbing" level of clout over prison policy and operations, a federal court investigator charged Wednesday. Special Master John Hagar accused Schwarzenegger of backpedaling and warned that California was returning to an era when union leaders were allowed to "overrule the most critical decisions" of prison administrators.

Hagar, whose findings were spelled out in a 34-page report, linked the turnaround to the governor's January appointment of Susan Kennedy, one-time aide to former Gov. Gray Davis, as his chief of staff. Within 4 months of her hiring, Hagar said, 2 of Schwarzenegger's handpicked Corrections Dept chiefs had resigned amid concerns that union officials were being given too much say over appointments and other management moves.
After their departures, Hagar said, prison leaders were "confused, understaffed, dispirited, and most important, uncertain who is really in charge", the head of the state Dept of Corrections & Rehabilitation or the president of the union, known as the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn.

Hagar's draft report is ultimately intended for U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson, who presides over two ongoing cases involving California's severely overcrowded and widely maligned prison system. First, however, Hagar will hold a July hearing so the union and state can raise objections.
Hagar said he would ask the judge for authority to further investigate the recent resignations of the corrections secretaries and other "disturbing developments," which he said could wipe out 2 years of "productive" prison reform. As part of that inquiry, Hagar said he would hold public hearings, at which Kennedy and a second top aide to the governor, Cabinet Secretary Fred Aguiar, would be called to testify.

At the union's West Sacramento headquarters, executive vp Chuck Alexander called the report a collection of "unfounded, inaccurate accusations" and lambasted Hagar for "not vetting these issues before putting pen to paper."
Alexander also disputed Hagar's assertion that the union holds great sway with the governor: "Do we now have somebody who is willing to listen to our issues? Yes. Do we have the influence he claims? Let me tell you, if we had that, there would be a lot more people gone and a system that works much better than the one we've got."

In a prepared statement, the governor's press secretary, Margita Thompson, said "open lines of communication" with all groups, including labor unions, were essential to prison reform. She said Schwarzenegger believes "it is irresponsible & ineffective to solve our prison crisis without communicating with every party involved."
Wednesday's report is the latest chapter in a civil rights case that led Henderson to place Pelican Bay State Prison under his supervision and name Hagar his investigator. In 1995, Hagar ruled that brutality by officers at the prison on the North Coast was violating inmates' rights.
In recent years, Hagar and the judge have expanded their focus to include the Corrections Dept's internal disciplinary system. In previous reports, Hagar has said undue union influence was thwarting efforts by corrections leaders to punish wrongdoing by prison guards across the state.

With 31,000 members, the union is one of the most powerful players in California politics, having contributed millions to candidates and initiative fights in recent years. At the start of his term, Schwarzenegger distanced himself from the union. Its leaders said the chilly relations compared to friendlier connections of the Davis administration meant they were excluded from many decisions that affected their rank and file.
They targeted much of their anger at Roderick Hickman, whom Schwarzenegger appointed Corrections Dept secretary after his 2003 election. A one-time guard and prison warden, Hickman was initially viewed with suspicion by those who thought he would be too close to the union that represented him for 20 years.
Instead, he launched an effort to wipe out the "code of silence" that he and others said deterred prison officers from reporting misconduct by colleagues.

Under pressure from Henderson, he also rebuilt the employee disciplinary system and toughened penalties for wrongdoing, moves that Hagar praised Wednesday. (Hickman quit 2.06, replaced by Jeanne Woodford, who left the administration 4.06)
Schwarzenegger seemed to fully back the direction. In his 2005 State of the State speech, he said the union held too much sway over management of the prison system. Recently, frosty relations began to thaw. Aides to the governor, seeking reelection, say extending an olive branch is something they also are doing with other groups with which Schwarzenegger has previously clashed.

Aides said that although Kennedy & Aguiar have met with the prison officers union, including lunching with its president, it has been mostly to discuss prison overcrowding and construction. They denied a charge by Hagar that Kennedy & Aguiar had met with the union about a candidate recommended for a job by then-Corrections Secretary Woodford.
The candidate was not given the post, and Hagar blamed it on union interference. Woodford quit soon after, and those familiar with her thinking said she was frustrated that her nominees had been rejected.

In another sign of improved relations between Schwarzenegger's office and the prison guards union, the governor had a meeting with union President Mike Jimenez as recently as Tuesday. Schwarzenegger & Jimenez spoke for half an hour about prison overcrowding, prison construction and a proposal to relocate female inmates, according to governor's communications dir. Adam Mendelsohn.
The scathing federal report comes on the eve of the administration's negotiations with the guards union over a new labor contract. Hagar said the state is in a poor position to negotiate the new pact because of a "quiet purge" that the governor's office has initiated in the state Dept of Personnel Administration, which handles negotiations with employee unions.
In April or May, Hagar said, the department's director and deputy director were "told to resign," leaving the state without "experienced labor administrators" to undertake negotiations.
Dept spokeswoman Lynelle Jolley said the departures were not coerced. She said that the two had long planned their retirements and that the administration has since hired a private negotiator to lead the union talks.

Study reveals disparity in tribal gaming wages
5.7.08   Gaming Today

Results of the 2007 Indian Gaming Compensation Survey by Scottsdale-based WageWatch, Inc., reveal that wages for hourly workers still lag the hotel industry, while management jobs are paid significantly greater. A sample of 8 jobs paid hourly shows that wages in Indian gaming organizations are 8% below the average wages for the same group of hourly paid jobs in full service hotels. These results are almost identical to the findings for a similar study completed on 2005 wages.
The hourly jobs analyzed are Bus Person, Retail Sales Clerk, Security Guard, Receptionist, Payroll Clerk, Maintenance Engineer, Housekeeper, and Front Desk Agent.

However, pay for management positions in Indian Gaming is considerably higher, especially for jobs such as Director of Security, Director of Human Resources, and Controller. These three jobs alone average 18% higher in Indian Gaming properties compared to those in full service hotels.
Data from the hotel industry were compiled from over 1,200 full service hotels in the U.S. Data from Indian casinos were from 34 different organizations across the country.

"With an economy sputtering, and the cost of food and gas increasing at a much higher rate than wages, service-providing employees are going to more readily look for jobs that pay $.50 or $1 more per hour, and employers will suffer from the high cost of turnover if their wages are not competitive", says Margaret Dyekman, president and COO of WageWatch.
"On the flip side, even if certain salaried jobs are paid considerably higher than market, those managers may not be working up to their potential if they are constantly dealing with employee turnover versus spending time coaching and growing their staff to encourage better performance and customer service."

Los Angeles   An administrative law judge has ruled against MediaNews (Garden State Newspapers Inc.) on most counts in a case brought against it by the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of workers at the Long Beach CA Press-Telegram. In a strongly worded decision, Judge Gerald A. Wacknov ruled that, among other matters: The judge further ordered that it "cease and desist from" unilaterally increasing the work load of district advisors in the circulation dept and not interfere with, restrain or coerce employees in the exercise of their rights guaranteed by the National Labor Relations Act. Further he ruled that helpers must be reinstated to load and unload trucks.
He ordered that within 14 days of the ruling (dated June 30, but only recently received by the Guild), the company post a notice and mail to the transportation workers a strongly worded pronouncement that says, among other things: Bargaining resumed Thursday, July 13. Press-Telegram unionized workers have been without a contract since MediaNews took over the "assets" of the Press-Telegram in late 1997 and have given the bargaining team authority to call a strike. The contract that was in place there for nearly 60 years was not recognized by the NLRB as continuing because the pact did not specifically reference "asset" sales, even though the contract said the pact "shall inure and be binding upon the successors and assigns of the publisher."
Since the MN takeover, reporters, photographers, many editors and circulation workers went without sick leave, bereavement leave, in circulation even without any vacation leave; had their insurance premiums hiked above other workers (Knight-Ridder lost a similar case when it did the same thing to the Press-Telegram workers when KR owned the business); and wages were slashed up to 47%. One of the most recent company proposals was to pay P-T workers less than L.A. Daily News workers, even though P-T reporters' stories appear in the Daily News with bylines that say "staff writer." The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) voted to reject a proposal which would have allowed the ownership of talent agencies by film production companies. The proposal would have changed a system that has operated in Hollywood for more than 60 years, union officials said. But members apparently feared a conflict of interest if their movie producer employers were also their agents. They voted the move down by 54% against 46% in a postal ballot. SAG pres. Melissa Gilbert said: "The membership has spoken. "SAG's mandate remains unchanged." The SAG board had voted in favour of the move in March, advocating a deal with Association of Talent Agents (ATA) & National Association of Talent Representatives.

ATA executive director Karen Stuart expressed her anger at the decision. "Agents now twice have been left without an agreement after negotiation and approval by the SAG National Board," she said. Ms Stuart said that negotiators had worked hard for more than 3 years to come up with a fair proposal. Ms Stuart also raised the possibility of legal action against the Guild, saying the ATA would "seek redress for the considerable damage that SAG has caused." SAG was recently embroiled in controversy over the election of its president. An e-mail gaffe forced the union to re-stage an election which had put former Little House on the Prairie star Melissa Gilbert in office, after it emerged voters in New York were given an extra 2 days to return their votes. Ms Gilbert was successfully elected, for the second time, in March.

Hollywood agents have agreed a tentative agreement with the actors union to give them more power in movies & tv production. The deal, which is the first change since 1939, will allow agents to invest in or receive investments for movie productions, as long as they do not become the employers of the actors they represent. The two sides had been locked in intense discussions for 5 weeks. Assoc. of Talent Agents/National Assoc. of Talent Representatives (ATA/NATRA) wanted an increase in the current 10% they are allowed to invest in productions. They have now agreed a 20% limit with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG).

Agents argued that the business rules were out of date, however opponents of the scheme said any new deal would result in agents becoming producers. The current deal, brought into place in 1939, was drafted in to curb conflicts of interest and protect actors from exploitation by talent agents. Tess Harper from SAG said the new deal covers 3 important principles.
She said: "First, a guarantee of uncompromised representation; second, assurance that agents will not become employers of the actors they represent; and third, benefits must flow to both sides of the table."
The new deal aims to allow actors to make fully informed decisions about the choice of their agents. The proposed deal has yet to be ratified by SAG's 96,000 members, however the union's Tom LaGrua believes his members will back it. He said: "This agreement is a win-win for actors. "It empowers actors with the essential information needed to choose the kind of franchised agent who works best for them." In addition, the accord would establish an Actor Benefit Fund for contributions from agents to SAG's health plan.

IWLU  
Port jobs expected to lure thousands
8.2.04   Alex Veiga AP

Los Angeles   It's not the California Lottery, but in the coming weeks thousands of people are expected to take a chance on landing a high-paying job as a dockworker as the ports of L.A. & Long Beach look for help handling a crush of cargo.
At a time when manufacturing jobs are being shipped overseas, employment on the docks in the nation's largest port complex has become highly prized by people hungry for six-figure pay & health benefits for blue-collar work.
"The other good jobs have all been exported, they've all been outsourced," said Dave Arian, president of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union Local 13. "But they can't move the waterfront. They can't outsource the port."

Organizers figure more than 20,000 people will apply, but only 3,000 will make it on the roster of casual workers hired on a daily basis as needed. Those who manage to get on the roll can accumulate work hours and eventually become fully registered longshoremen, potentially earning more than $100,000 a year.
Starting hourly pay for casual hires is $20.66, while longshore workers at the top of the pay scale make $28.68 an hour. Add in overtime & shift differentials and earnings can grow significantly. In 2003, fully registered longshoremen earned an annual average of $89,484, according to the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping companies. Registered longshoremen also receive free health benefits, pensions & employer-sponsored 401k plans.

By comparison, the mean hourly wage paid to workers in white-collar occupations was $21.09 in 2002, according to the most recent data compiled by the Labor Department. Workers in blue-collar jobs earned a mean hourly wage of $14.51 for the same year.
"25 years ago it was far easier for somebody without a college degree to have a job you could support a family on that provided some security & good benefits," said Wash.D.C. based think tank Economic Policy Institute president Lawrence Mishel.
Some jobs in auto manufacturing or those available in the heyday of the U.S. steel industry also paid well. But many of those positions have been lost as companies cut labor costs by moving operations overseas. The manufacturing sector lost jobs for 43 consecutive months before stabilizing in March.

People without a college degree, who last year made up an estimated 71 percent of U.S. workers, have seen their wages stagnate or fall, Mishel said. "A big part of the erosion is the fact that blue-collar workers are far less likely now to be unionized," he said.
Longshore jobs pay well because the union has fought over the years for good benefits for its 10,500 members, Arian said. The ILWU's current contract was forged in 2002 during a bitter labor dispute with shipping companies. Longshoremen were locked out by employers who accused them of conducting a work slowdown.

The 10-day shutdown cost the U.S. economy an estimated $1 billion to $2 billion a day. The union & PMA finally agreed on the current process for recruiting more workers. Last week, both sides decided to promote 1,000 existing casual workers a step closer to full longshore status and agreed to add the 3,000 casual hires. Eventually, 2 drawings will be held to select 3,000 applicants.
Arian cautioned job hopefuls: "You may make a lot of money, but you may find yourself two, three months without anything."

Civil case vs. port is roiling the waters   Ex-commissioner's lawsuit proceeding
8.2.04 Ronald W. Powell   SD UT

David Malcolm's 2 decade career in San Diego County politics ended January 2002 when he resigned from the Port Commission in a conflict-of-interest scandal, but his presence is still being felt at the Port District as legal fees mount. Malcolm sued the San Diego Unified Port District and former port atty David Chapman in November, claiming that bad legal advice led him to violate state law. The District Atty's Office prosecuted Malcolm, who pleaded guilty to a felony April 2003.
A trial is scheduled 10.29.04 in the civil case, in which Chapman is accused of legal malpractice & negligence. The Port District has spent more than $322,000 in legal fees on the case, and the costs are increasing as the port's lawyers prepare for the trial, including out-of-town travel for depositions.

Port Commission chair Peter Q. Davis said the Port District has an obligation to fight the lawsuit rather than seek a settlement. "I think people feel that David's pleading guilty to a felony blemished the port's reputation, and to compromise might add to that blemish," Davis said. "The port feels a strong responsibility to cleanse its image because of Malcolm."
Malcolm's atty, Dan Stanford, said the port is engaging in a political vendetta against the former commissioner and is needlessly spending public money. Stanford said Malcolm sent a letter to the port a month ago offering to resolve the lawsuit through a one-day binding arbitration hearing before a retired judge, whose selection would be agreed upon by both sides.

Malcolm made the offer against his atty's wishes, telling the port that he would cap any judgment he might win at $400,000, Stanford said. Malcolm's only requirement was that the port write a letter of support to the judge who presided over his criminal trial as part of his planned effort to have his felony conviction reduced to a misdemeanor. The Port District refused the request, Stanford said.

"This case involves a businessman who would not have entered into this transaction but for the negligent legal advice he received from the port's atty," Stanford said. If the case goes to trial, Malcolm will seek more than $2 million in damages for lost business & emotional distress. Stanford said Malcolm paid $600,000 in atty fees & fines in his criminal case.
The Port District administers state tidelands on San Diego Bay, as well as Imperial Beach's oceanfront. It operates 2 marine cargo terminals & a cruise ship terminal, but derives the majority of its revenue from rents paid by more than 600 businesses on the shores of San Diego Bay.
The Port District is governed by a 7 member board appointed by the city councils of its 5 member cities: San Diego, Chula Vista, National City, Coronado and Imperial Beach.

Malcolm sued the Port District after the agency rejected a claim he filed in July 2003 accusing Chapman of malpractice & breach of fiduciary duty in advising the commissioner. In fighting the lawsuit, the port so far has paid the Los Angeles law firm of Richards, Watson & Gershon $177,629 and the San Diego law firm of Coughlan, Semmer & Lipman $144,401. Those legal fees are in addition to $800,637 the port paid to attys who represented Malcolm in a lawsuit filed in December 2000 by a Sacramento lawyer. In that lawsuit, Tony Miller alleged that Malcolm violated the state's Political Reform Act by failing to fully disclose his financial interests while serving as a port commissioner from 1995 through 1999.

The Port District agreed to settle the lawsuit in April 2002 for $600,000, with the port's insurer paying $500,000 of the total. Much of Malcolm's legal troubles were tied to his business relationship with Duke Energy, a port tenant that operates the South Bay Power Plant in Chula Vista. As a commissioner, Malcolm took a leading role in a deal that allowed Duke to enter a 10½-year lease with the Port District to operate the power plant. The lease took effect in April 1999. About a year later, while Malcolm was a commissioner, he entered a $20,000-a-month consulting contract with Duke. He was paid $210,000 under the roughly one-year contract.

Malcolm's contract called for him to put Duke's interests ahead of all others, specifically naming the Port District. Public disclosure of Malcolm's contract eroded his support among members of the Chula Vista City Council, which appointed him to the commission, and he resigned in January 2002.

Malcolm has maintained publicly & in his lawsuit that he was told by Chapman, orally & in writing, that he could continue serving on the commission while employed by Duke as long as he disclosed his contractual relationship and recused himself on issues concerning Duke.
Chapman has denied giving Malcolm a formal legal opinion on his business relationship with Duke. In 2002, the District Atty's Office began investigating Malcolm's dealings with Duke. A county grand jury also looked into the case, hearing testimony from current & former port commissioners.

In April 2003, Malcolm pleaded guilty to a felony count of violating the state's conflict-of-interest law. Under state Govt Code Section 1090, public officials must resign when a conflict arises between their public & private interests. In May 2003, Malcolm was sentenced to 120 days in a work-furlough program. As part of his plea agreement, he paid more than $260,000 in fines & costs.
Because Malcolm cooperated by pleading guilty, ending the grand jury investigation of his conduct, he served 80 days of his work-furlough sentence. He is in the midst of serving 3 years' probation. Malcolm's political career began in 1982 when he was elected to the Chula Vista City Council. He later served on the California Coastal Commission & the Port Commission.

If Malcolm succeeds in having his felony conviction reduced to a misdemeanor, he will continue to not be allowed to hold public office, but his voting rights will be restored. In February, Superior Court Judge John S. Meyer said Malcolm could pursue his lawsuit against the Port District & Chapman.
On July 16, the Port District filed a motion in Superior Court to have the judge decide the case without a trial. A hearing on the motion is scheduled for 10.1.04.
Davis, who was not on the commission during Malcolm's tenure, said the port's respect is at stake. "This case is about integrity, integrity of the port and integrity of the port with the community," he said. "It's important for the port to defend itself and let the facts be known."

Putting Chargers at 10th Ave. site 'crazy' proposal
5.30.04   Ronald W. Powell SD UT

Padres owner John Moores recently mocked the performance of the Port District's 10th Avenue Marine Terminal, calling it "badly underutilized" and a "ghost town." Moores made the comments last month to San Diego Union- Tribune sports columnist Nick Canepa in an article about Moores' promoting the downtown terminal as a perfect spot for a Chargers football stadium. Most port officials & the International Longshore & Warehouse Union have a different view.
Longshoremen's union Local 29 president Tim Chavez said the number of full-time union workers has increased from 58 3 years ago to 90 today. Over the same period, temporary workers have gone from 60 to 110. "The numbers tell you that there's growth in the industry," Chavez said.

Longshore workers also make far more than people hawking hot dogs at a football stadium, he said. They earn from $80,000 to $158,000 a year, including overtime pay, according to union officials. "The members of my union think building a stadium at 10th Avenue is a crazy idea. … Why disturb something that is vital to the community, vital to the nation and vital to the world?" Chavez said.
Port officials say the maritime cargo operation generates 2,350 jobs in the San Diego region and $262 million in annual revenue. Those jobs incl trucking companies, maritime-oriented suppliers and other support businesses. 19 local businesses are directly involved in maritime trade, employing 1,060 people and generating $122 million annually in revenue, according to the port.

"As a public agency, we're not in the profit-making business," said Port District president Bruce Hollingsworth. "Our role is to generate economic activity. A marine terminal is an economic engine." In 2002, port officials invested about $25 million in a cold-storage facility to lure Dole Fresh Fruit Co. to relocate its West Coast headquarters to the 10th Avenue Marine Terminal and enter a 20-year lease. They say Dole's annual impact on the gross regional product is $20.5 million.
In addition to fruit, the terminal handles cement, newsprint, fertilizer, sand, steel, diesel fuel, cruise-ship fuel, jet fuel and soda ash. Businesses in these areas have port leases extending as far as 2028. San Diego Refrigerated Services president & owner Ed Plant has a lease with the Port District to handle Dole's bananas, shrimp and mangoes as well as avocados and asparagus from Chile and oranges from Australia. He is pursuing other deals and wants the port to protect cargo business.
"If they take this (terminal), the next thing will be the shipyards," Plant said.

N.America ports report record traffic   Some observers worry about tie-ups like those that plagued L.A. & Long Beach in 2004.
2.4.06   Ronald D. White L.A. Times

Every major container seaport in North America handled more cargo in 2005 than ever before as trade with Asia continued to swell and importers looked for alternatives to Southern California's crowded docks. The growth was so brisk and spread so uniformly along the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf coasts that some observers are worried other regions will see the kind of congestion that brought the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach near a standstill in 2004.

In 2005, Los Angeles and Long Beach, by far the nation's busiest harbor complex, handled 14.2 million containers, an increase of 8% from 2004, without that year's cargo tie-ups. But business in other places grew even faster last year as retailers diversified their ports of entry, in part to avoid the possibility of another floating traffic jam in Southern California.
Despite the rapid expansion of recent years in international trade, particularly with China and India, few expected the increases they saw in 2005.
"These cargo volumes are just beyond belief," said American Assn. of Port Authorities spokesman Aaron Ellis. "Our ports need to marshal as much of their resources as possible to handle the surges in cargo volume we've been seeing."

Importer Wen Chang found that out last year when he toyed with the idea of using Portland, OR or the San Francisco Bay Area instead of Long Beach to bring in the custom wheels, auto and truck accessories and other products that his company, Trade Union International, manufactures in China.
Those ports were becoming nearly as busy as Southern California's, Chang discovered, plus he would need to foot the additional cost of trucking his products to Montclair, where the company is based.
"That's not a solution," said Chang, whose 85-employee company has $45 million to $55 million in annual sales. "We really need to have our state and federal government face this and help find a solution." Otherwise the flow of goods will be so backed up and inefficient that "everyone will become the victim," he said.

For more than 20 years, only 3 North American ports, Los Angeles, Long Beach and the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey handled 2 million or more cargo containers annually, as measured in 20 ft equivalents, the maritime industry standard for counting cargo boxes that vary in size. The Port of Oakland joined them in 2004, and last year 3 more ports breached the mark or came within two ships' cargos of it: Tacoma, Wash. (2.1 million), the Virginia Port Authority (1.98 million) and Charleston, S.C. (1.98 million).
"It's simple. We are continuing to see record levels of cargo coming here from Asia, and that trend is going to continue into this year," said Steve Coleman, spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The nationwide boom is creating fears that ports aren't investing enough to process the heavier traffic and might develop the sorts of snarls that delayed import deliveries through Southern California in 2004. The Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors steered clear in 2005 through a sweeping operational overhaul, which added thousands of dockworkers, opened cargo terminals on nights and Saturdays and levied fees on cargo moving during peak hours.
Serious congestion would occur first along the West Coast, according to a Pennsylvania State University analysis of container port capacity in 2005, "and then cause a domino effect as East and Gulf coast ports see higher-than-expected volumes and subsequently experience their own capacity and service problems."

Michael Maloni, the report's author and a professor specializing in supply chain management, said, "The point is that there isn't enough excess capacity systemwide now, across all the ports, to handle any breakdown at any large port."
Maloni's study polled officials from 24 ports that handle about 84% of North American container traffic. The study concluded that the facilities were underestimating growth by as many as 11 million containers over the next 15 years. Ellis said ports across North America were spending an average of more than $2 billion a year on cranes and other cargo-handling equipment, computers and software to keep up with the traffic.

Even so, seaport analyst Anne Van Praagh of Moody's Investors Service said, "we are still having trouble keeping pace with demand."
Port officials say they're doing their best to keep ahead.
"Ports across the country are not only expanding their facilities; they are building new terminals to be able to handle these greater volumes," said the port association's Ellis. "That's become quite a trend around the country."

At the Port of Charleston, where 25% of the volume comes from Asia, new cranes and other equipment that will allow containers to be stacked higher will begin arriving in June.
"We saw broad growth over the entire year. We're not at capacity, but we need to expand," said Byron Miller, spokesman for the South Carolina State Port Authority.
Tacoma's port will spend $434 million over the next five years on capital improvements and expansion projects.
"One thing is clear about 2005 and the foreseeable future, and that is that international trade will continue to grow and our transportation system must grow with it," said port exec. dir. Timothy J. Farrell

Mexican port gets American connection
A U.S. railway is linking with a Pacific coast harbor to move freight faster to the Midwest.
6.20.06   Ronald D. White L.A.Times

The freight train that left Mexico's Pacific coast on Monday inaugurated daily service to the U.S. Midwest and points beyond, carrying the high-roller hopes of a U.S. railroad and a small Mexican harbor to grab a share of the Asian cargo boom. The 7,000 ft train is run by Kansas City Southern, which spent $1.5 billion for a controlling interest in every foot of track from the port of Lazaro Cardenas to Laredo, Texas. From there, the route heads north to Kansas City with connections along the way to Chicago, New York, Atlanta and other cities.

The start of daily rail service is a big step in the plan to create a bustling waterfront out of the quiet port at the far southern tip of Michoacan state. Mexican officials and the Missouri-based railroad already have gained some heavy-duty allies, including the world's largest operator of port terminals and the world's largest shipping line.
"We think Lazaro Cardenas is the growth mechanism for trade on the West Coast," said Kansas City Southern's chief operating officer Art Shoener.

Until now, Kansas City Southern and Lazaro Cardenas have been relatively minor players in their fields. Kansas City Southern controls one-fifth of the track and posted one-tenth of the revenue of railroad giants Union Pacific and BNSF. Lazaro Cardenas handled fewer cargo containers in all of 2005 than the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach typically move in one week.

But the port has a naturally deep harbor, direct dockside rail access, room to grow and relatively cheap labor. In addition, the railroad said it planned to lure shippers with competitive rates and shorter transit times.
Some transportation experts are predicting that Lazaro Cardenas could become the overflow option when the next big congestion crisis hits U.S. or Canadian ports or the Panama Canal.
"We take it very seriously. There is a good chance that this will be a viable trade lane for Pacific trade into the U.S.," said USB analyst Rick Paterson.

Lazaro Cardenas harbor on Mexico's Pacific coast ranks 34th N.American cargo container ports per 2005 ranking in 20 ft equivalent containers.   source Amer. Assn of Port Authorities
1. L.A. 7.5 million
2. Long Beach 6.7 million
3. NY/NJ 4.8 million
4. Oakland, 2.3 million
5. Seattle, 2.1 million 		6. Tacoma WA 2.1 million
7. Charleston SC 2.0 million
8. Hampton Roads VA 2.0 million
9. Savannah GA 1.9 million
10. Vancouver BC 1.8 million
34. Lazaro Cardenas 0.1 million
Nation's busiest container complex Los Angeles & Long Beach rebounded from almost disastrous congestion in 2004 to easily handle an even larger amount of cargo in 2005. So far in 2006, all of the major West Coast ports "are performing soundly. They are all growing as quickly as they can," said Moody's Investors Service seaports analyst Joshua Schaff.
But several experts are concerned that a traffic jam lies somewhere ahead, if not at the ports then at the inland rail and truck corridors that serve them.
"You have prominent shipping lines like APL warning that we are pushing too much cargo through a pipe that is not expanding quickly enough," said BMO Nesbitt Burns railroad analyst Randy Cousins. "That's why something like this has the potential to succeed."

The big 4 U.S. railroad companies, Union Pacific, BNSF, Norfolk Southern and CSX, will spend a combined $7.3 billion on capital improvements in 2006. But their on-time performance & average speed continue to deteriorate because of the overwhelming demands on their limited infrastructure from the staggering growth of international trade and other shipping, said transportation consulting co. R.L. Banks & Associates pres. Charlie Banks in Washington.
"The shipping lines are looking for alternatives, and one of them is Mexico," Banks said.

In addition, Mexico is repositioning itself in a world in which its manufacturing base is eroding and its labor is considered relatively expensive by Asian standards. Part of that repositioning, Banks said, is as a logistics and supply chain corridor for goods heading to the U.S.
Indeed, Kansas City Southern is pushing its rail service as a shorter route from the Pacific coast, saving shippers money. The railroad said its route from Lazaro Cardenas to Houston is 532 miles shorter than the BNSF route from Long Beach to Houston.

Another factor in the project's favor is a labor pool that is less expensive than the one represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, whose U.S. dockworkers command some of the highest blue-collar wages in the nation.
"The labor situation would be appealing. Everyone is looking to save money," said Don Hodges, whose Hodges Fund prominently features railroads such as BNSF.
For its part the ILWU, which counts 14,000 dockworkers in its ranks, "does not plan to take this lying down," said spokesman Steve Stallone. He said the effort amounted to a plan to outsource U.S. port jobs to Mexico. Although the union has no firm plans on how to respond, Stallone said the union would support efforts on the part of the Mexican dockworkers to organize.

But the likelihood of lower wages for dockworkers isn't the only draw. There may also be fewer environmental pressures on expansion at a port like Lazaro Cardenas.
Inland Empire-based economist John Husing who follows the vast warehouse and distribution network that serves Southern California's twin ports, said any discussion of the local ports and their growing traffic always turns to the question of whether pollution can be reduced.
"Here every new project will require a simultaneous effort to clean up the air. I have not heard a discussion that hasn't had an ironclad link to that," Husing said.

In such an atmosphere, a new port with a new rail service could profit. One who thinks so is Hutchison Port Holdings GM Gonzalo Ortiz in Lazaro Cardenas. The giant Hong Kong-based terminal operator has begun a $200-million expansion of its terminal in the Mexican port.
The new train service "is just in time to assist customers with peak season and is a clear indicator of the growth of traffic and capacity planned for this port," Ortiz said.
World's biggest shipping line A.P. Moller-Maersk is among those who will use the expanded port, Kansas City Southern said.

Still, West Coast port officials said they weren't terribly concerned about losing business to Mexico.
"You could say that there is an industry need for alternative points of entry into the American and Mexican markets," said Tacoma port spokesman Mike Wasem, which handled the equivalent of 2.1 million 20 ft containers in 2005. Cargo traffic there is expected to grow to 3 million 20 ft containers by 2010.
Los Angeles port, nation's busiest container port, probably would lose some business to Lazaro Cardenas, said marketing dir. Jim MacLellan.
But he added, "We do not expect its effects to be significant on our operations."

2 L.A.-area ports aim to slash diesel exhaust   The plan seeks to cut such pollution from short-haul trucks by 80% and boost security. Industry says business might drop.   4.14.07   Janet Wilson & Ronald D. White L.A. Times   ¹

The ports of Los Angeles & Long Beach, nation's busiest seaport complex, are proposing an "unprecedented" overhaul of dockside trucking that officials say would slash diesel pollution from trucks by 80% in 5 years while improving domestic security and working conditions for drivers.
The draft plan drew rave reviews from environmentalists & labor groups but was criticized by industry groups, which said that lawsuits could be filed and that the booming ports could lose business to other states and countries if they press forward.

More than 40% of all goods imported to U.S. move through the 2 neighboring ports. Under the plan, posted online Friday, all 16,000 short-haul trucks that move goods from the wharves to nearby rail yards or warehouses would be scrapped or retrofitted, starting next year, at a cost of $1.8 billion.
Their drivers, mostly low-paid independent contractors, would be employed by companies that would bid on port concession contracts containing stiff environmental, equipment maintenance and workplace requirements.

Numerous studies have shown elevated levels of diesel particulates and other harmful air pollutants on docks and in neighborhoods near truck-laden highways and freight rail yards. The cost of replacing the current, aging trucks would be funded largely by per-trip fees of $34 to $54 assessed on the licensed firms, with some matching state bonds and taxpayer money.
A second portion of the plan would impose a $26 fee on every container of goods moved through the ports to help fund rail and highway improvements.

Both measures are part of the ports' joint clean-air action plan, which aims to reduce deadly air pollution from all sources including ships, trains and trucks by 45% in 5 years.
The plan is "a model for seaports around the world … boldest air quality initiative by any seaport," according to the online draft.
L.A. Board of Harbor Commissioners pres. S. David Freeman said consumers would pay just pennies more for goods moving off the docks. He said replacing the trucks is vital to improving public health in neighborhoods near the ports.
"If you just look at the difference between the emissions of one of these dirty trucks and a new, cleaner one and do the math, this is one of our biggest opportunities to get clean air," said Freeman, who along with other port officials unveiled the proposal Thursday at a closed-door meeting with industry, labor and environmental groups. "We can make major advances by replacing them."

Environmental, labor and community groups that fought more than a year for the plan praised it.
"It's a huge, huge step forward in our quest for clean air," said Natural Resources Defense Council's Melissa Lin Perella.
"Usually govts just nibble around the edges of a major social problem," said Teamsters union state dir. Barry Broad. "This is an example of not one but two govts coming together … to solve a problem in a truly comprehensive way."

But industry representatives saw it differently. Business groups, including the National Retail Federation, have argued strenuously for a market-based, voluntary approach and new statewide emissions standards for trucks.
The groups argued that money could be raised quickly to improve the condition of port truck fleets. On Friday, the federation said there should be "serious concerns" about the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach losing business under the new plan.

"We don't think that a private, local standard is the way to proceed," said federation intl trade counsel & vp Erik Autor. "We are not sure how the state & and federal govts are going to view this."
Shippers who would foot the bill for the multibillion-dollar plan, which could go into effect 1.1.08, say it could end up being challenged in court.
"We are looking at it now from our lawyers' point of view to see what we might do. I think we might challenge that," said Intermodal Motor Carriers Conference exec. dir. Curtis Whelan for the 38,000-member American Trucking Assn. "By definition, these containers represent interstate commerce. It would impact interstate commerce in a dramatic way. Can a port authority do that?"

Whelan added that the plan could drive out dozens of smaller companies currently handling port trucking.
But Broad of the Teamsters reacted angrily, saying the current shipping companies were "bottom of the swamp" operations that moved in 25 years ago after port trucking was deregulated, firing drivers overnight to avoid paying decent wages or insurance and relying on poorly paid immigrant labor using decades-old, dangerous trucks.
Under the plan, drivers would get workers' compensation and other benefits. They also would undergo criminal background checks, drug and alcohol testing and identity screening aimed at tightening port security.

Wall Street analysts who rate the ports' bonds and other investments said they would be watching closely.
"It remains to be seen how they are going to do this. The port has obviously done quite a bit attempting to get shippers to change their behavior to align with environmental norms," said Moody's Investment Service ports analyst Joshua Schaff. "It's a sensitive issue. There is a lot of demand for the services these ports provide, and we just don't know what the price elasticity is, how high the price can go before you have some defection from customers."

Responding to industry concerns, Freeman said, "Of course I worry. … We are completely open to suggestion as we move forward aggressively with this plan … but eternal happiness for everyone is not one of the criteria. We're going to get cleaner air out of this, and a more stable, reliable workforce and better homeland security. Eternal happiness is above my pay grade."
Public hearings on the plan will be set, officials said. Boards of the two ports are expected to vote on a final version in July.
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Possible terror threat closes Calif. port
6.26.06   Jeff Wilson AP

Port Hueneme CA   Port Hueneme in Ventura County was closed off Monday afternoon while authorities investigated a possible terrorist threat on a cargo ship, a port official said. The action came just before noon after a dockworker discovered a possible threat written in the cargo hold of a ship carrying bananas from Guatemala, said port marketing dir. Will Berg. There was some discrepancy in the exact phrasing of the message. Berg said it read: "This nitro is for you Mr. George W. Bush and your Jewish cronies."
Federal authorities said it was written in English and read: "Nitro + glycerin my gift for G. W. Bush and his Jewish gang."

The message, scrawled in marker on a metal pillar within the ship, was being investigated by federal authorities, including the FBI and Secret Service, as well as local officials, officials said. FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said agents were at the scene. No nitroglycerine or other explosives were found during a thorough search by bomb personnel, she said.
Divers were called in to inspect surrounding waters. About 20 people aboard the 30 kiloton refrigerated vessel which arrived from the Port of Quetzal in Guatemala were evacuated, Berg said. Workers already outside the port were being kept out, though anyone inside was allowed to remain.

The 135-acre port, located northwest of Los Angeles, consists of 2 terminals. It is the only deep-ocean port between Los Angeles and San Francisco, though it handles far less cargo than the Los Angeles-Long Beach complex, the nation's largest harbor.
It is the top seaport in the United States for citrus exports and ranks in the top 10 in the country for imports of automobiles and bananas, according to the port's Web site.


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