WASHINGTON (Feb. 20, 2015) — The National Retail Federation (NRF) is urging quick action to end the weeks-long strike at 29 ports that essentially blocks cargo ships from docking anywhere on the West Coast.
The NRF issued a statement Feb. 20, noting that it has been nearly a week since President Barack Obama sent Labor Secretary Thomas Perez and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker to San Francisco to mediate the contract dispute between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), representing some 20,000 dock workers, and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), representing cargo ship owners.
“If a deal is not reached today, we support the decision to move the negotiations to Washington, and we call on the president to personally engage in the discussions until an agreement is reached,” said Jonathan Gold, NRF vice president for supply chain and customs policy.
“The nation's retailers and supply chain stakeholders cannot afford another week of uncertainty at the Pacific ports, where dozens upon dozens of ships and thousands of containers are held out at sea, and where hundreds of millions of dollars of consumer goods, inventory and merchandise sit idle,” Mr. Gold said.
Tire shipments are among the many products in limbo as dozens of cargo ships languish off-shore awaiting an end to the strike so they can unload.
