OLYMPIA – The Capitol environs are replete with acronyms. Agencies are known by three-letter describers and programs are rarely mentioned by their full names.

But last week’s Senate hearing into the shipping slowdowns at the state’s major ports in Seattle and Tacoma highlighted the problems relying too heavily on acronyms.

When Commerce and Labor Committee Chairman Mike Baumgartner last month announced the hearing “to get to the bottom” of the slowdown, he took clear aim at the unions in this ongoing labor-management dispute. He cited port officials’ pronouncements that the longshore workers unions were trying to pressure management into a new contract by “working at half-speed”.

But the longshoremen showed up to the hearing and presented their side, which laid the blame on management for not scheduling enough shifts and clogging the docks with too many containers in too little space. Farm, dairy and manufacturers offered a litany of woes they face in getting products out or in. Port officials offered a primer on the importance of trade to Washington, which may be the sessions best “no duh” moment so far.

Missing from the party was the management side of the dispute, despite the fact that the Republican-led committees jointly holding the “work session” were clearly friendly turf. Baumgartner lamented the absence of the Pacific Maritime Association, which is negotiating contracts with the longshore workers union. PMA has been pointing the finger at the union for months, and at the beginning of the week issued a statement accusing workers of bringing terminals “to the brink of gridlock”.

The management reps had been invited, accepted, then cancelled the night before the hearing, Baumgartner said during the hearing.

This was later denied by a spokesman for the PMA in San Francisco. Wade Gates said the PMA never received an invitation, so it didn’t accept then cancel; it only heard about the hearing second-hand. The staff was concentrating on mediation to settle the contract, but sent written testimony.

Not so, insisted Baumgartner. He showed a text message from a lobbyist canceling an appearance of a proffered speaker.

Nope, countered Gates; perhaps the senator is confusing the PMA with the PMSA?

That’s the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, which sounds like it might be the same thing or at least a wholly owned subsidiary. In fact, the PMSA is a non-profit specializing in global trade issues. Turns out Baumgartner was texting with the PMSA’s lobbyist. After going over the difference an “S” makes, it became clear PMA did not cancel at the last minute as he claimed during the hearing. “That was my bad,” he acknowledged.

It was the PMSA that accepted an invitation then cancelled, Commerce and Labor staff said later. But the PMA did receive an invitation, sent by e-mail to the address on the association’s website. In response to that invitation, they sent written testimony prior to the hearing.

So, not a snub. But not quite the same as showing up in person – as union officials, shippers and orchardists did – and being available to answer for anything that seems one-sided or self-serving.

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