Editorial: Obama should act on shipping slowdown

’Tis the season to be jolly, unless you are among the many Washington businesses, farmers and workers victimized by a labor slowdown at 29 West Coast ports.

Christmas trees withered in containers never loaded aboard ship for transport to Asia. Orders for apples headed to South America were canceled. And in some McDonald’s restaurants in Japan that cannot get potatoes, workers are asking customers “You want chicken nuggets with that?”

Really.

Apparently, the Obama administration’s “Pivot to Asia” does not come with fries.

Nor has it come with much effort on the administration’s part to break an impasse in talks between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association. The longshoremen have worked without a contract since July 1, but at a reduced pace – allegedly for safety – that has resulted in canceled orders, delayed deliveries, or the rerouting of ships to East and Gulf Coast ports unaffected by the dispute.

Monday, the U.S. Mediation and Conciliation Service said it is ready to step in at the request of the shippers if the union consents. As of Wednesday, the union had not responded.

This problem cannot go unresolved much longer. Last weekend, port operations in Seattle and Tacoma were cut to a single shift by the shippers, who say the move will alleviate congestion on the docks. A union spokesman called cancellation of the shift “self-sabotage” intended to increase pressure for a settlement.

That just may be true. Pressure is coming from many quarters as the slowdown’s economic costs increase.

So far, the Obama administration has been hands-off. Gov. Jay Inslee describes the negotiations as “opaque,” with little room for state intervention. The longshoremen bear some residual resentment against Inslee for his actions earlier this year during a nasty strike at the Port of Vancouver, when Washington State Patrol troopers were dispatched to assure security.

State Sen. Michael Baumgartner, the newly named chairman of the Labor and Commerce Committee, says he will hold hearings early next year “to get to the bottom of this.”

Good luck with that, but more attention to what has become a major disruption to the Washington economy cannot but help.

The Seattle and Tacoma ports directly or indirectly employed 48,000 in 2013, and generated nearly $4.3 billion in economic activity. The job numbers jump almost tenfold when jobs at business and farms that use the ports are included. The ports themselves consolidated this month in an effort to become more competitive in the global maritime transportation market.

The Longshore union, meanwhile, seems more intent on battling other unions, as it has in Longview and Portland. Last year, shipper Hanjin threatened to leave Portland as the longshoremen and electricians fought over who would plug in refrigerated containers.

It took a lockout by the shippers to jar the Bush administration into action 12 years ago. There should not have to be a repeat.