Operations have been disrupted at one of the largest terminals situated at the Port of Oakland’s East Bay cargo hub due to a labour dispute connected to the dismissal of a number of dockworkers, according to San Jose Mercury News.
Michael Zampa, a spokesman for the Port of Oakland, said: “It's a labour-management dispute.
“We have heard work has temporarily stopped. Operations are expected to resume on the evening shift.”
Craig Merrilees, a spokesman for the ILWU, said: “The ILWU called in an arbitrator, who ruled that the company acted improperly by dismissing 22 workers.
“The company wanted to change the workday and the start times in violation of the contract.”
The incident is reminiscent of the worker strikes which took place in early 2015, which shut down more than 25 ports along the West Coast and caused mass congestion within the US logistics market.
It is further evidence of the power unionised workers can have over terminals on the US West Coast and the finely balanced nature of operations in the region.
Despite suffering badly from congestion and labour slowdowns in early 2015, both the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach recovered to perform strongly throughout 2015.
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