For Immediate Release: September 27, 2002

PMA Rejects Tech Agreement, Closes West Coast Ports  

To divert attention from its rejection of the ILWU's reasonable technology proposal, the PMA announced today it will shut down all West Coast ports with false claims of union slowdowns. The PMA walked out of negotiations this afternoon after its CEO Joseph Miniace launched into a tirade, attacking the union as an institution and saying he doesn't want to deal with it anymore. 

"Miniace showed the same disrespect for the union he has since the beginning of these talks," ILWU International President James Spinosa said. "He is unilaterally taking the action of closing all ports and bears full responsibility for its effects on the American economy." The PMA implemented the lockout even though the union made expansive proposals for new computer technology the employers have been saying for three years was their top priority.

But PMA refuses to guarantee that the remaining jobs and all the new jobs created by the new technology will be ILWU jobs. "PMA's slanderous allegations of slowdowns during the biggest speedup in ILWU history that coincides with a record number of on-the-job deaths is literally adding insult to injury and making any progress toward a contract more difficult," Spinosa said. "Still the ILWU is prepared to go back to the table and seek a negotiated settlement."