Dow Jones Newswires -- April 15, 1998
By DANIEL ROSENBERG
Dow Jones Newswires
CHICAGO -- U.S. dockworkers are considering a response to the dismissal of 1,400 unionized longshoremen in Australia last week, a spokesman for an international union told Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday.
Last week, Patrick Stevedore Holdings Pty. Ltd. dismissed its entire unionized work force following a series of strikes against the company. Australia's government indicated it supported the move.
Now, the dismissed employees' U.S. counterparts are examining their options, which include refusing to unload Australian boats that were handled by replacement workers.
'Targeting ships that were loaded by scabs is under discussion,' said Steve Stallone, spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in San Francisco.
Asked whether dockworkers are considering a full-scale work stoppage, Stallone, whose organization represents about 10,000 U.S. longshoremen, said he had no comment. He added that a decision on a protest will be reached by early next week.
If dockworkers refuse to unload boats from Australia, U.S. imports of beef, fish, sugar and alcoholic beverages could be delayed, analysts said. U.S. exports to Australia, which include soybean meal, fruit and vegetables and forest products, may also be affected.
Although no ships loaded by Australian replacement workers have arrived in the U.S., dockworkers in San Francisco and up and down the West Coast already are displaying their anger at the layoffs across the Pacific. Last week, Stallone said, eight ILWU officers were arrested and charged with trespassing after they blocked the door to Australia's consulate in San Francisco.
'We have long had a close relationship with the Maritime Union of Australia,' the ILWU's Stallone said, referring to the union that represents the dismissed workers. 'We understand that what's happening to them there is part of an international movement by shipping companies and governments to bust dockworkers' unions, and we understand we have to stand up for them.'
Irate U.S. dockworkers have posted their thoughts on various Internet sites, referring to the Australian labor battle as 'war on the waterfront.' Other Internet messages tell readers 'An injury to one is an injury to all,' and 'We support MUA.'
A general strike by West Coast dockworkers, which at this point is merely speculation, would spike prices of affected goods for a brief time, but would hurt prices in the long run, said Joe Victor, an agricultural analyst with brokerage Allendale Inc. in McHenry, Ill.
Victor said 'it's possible' U.S. dockworkers would take such an action.
'When they say there's a brotherhood, they're not joking,' Victor said. 'They'd die for each other. If they had a general strike, we'd have a problem.'
In that case, he said, prices for affected goods would rise on fears of possible shortages. Eventually, though, prices would drop. 'Eventually, people would say, if we can't unload it, why bid up for it?' Victor said. 'But anything that slows or impedes efficiency tends to tighten prices, so it could be friendly to the markets in the near term.'
In 1997, the U.S. imported $956 million in agricultural products from Australia, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. About $448 million of those imports were for red meat, mainly beef.
Other agricultural imports from 'down under' included $57 million of raw beet and cane sugar and $124 million of wine and beer. Imports of fish and seafood totaled $54 million, and imports of forest products totaled $8 million, the Commerce Department said.
The U.S. is a big exporter of soybean meal and forest products to Australia, but it's unclear if exports would be affected by the dockworkers' protests.
One U.S. analyst, Roger Norem of consultants AgriVisor Services in Bloomington, Ill., said he doesn't think that U.S. cattle futures prices would be at all affected by delayed beef imports resulting from any action by dockworkers.
'This isn't a major concern of the market,' Norem said. 'I'd be surprised if 10% of the traders have even heard of it.'
So far, there are no reports of any effect on loading or unloading activities at West Coast ports, port officials said.
'There's been no impact here,' said Barbara Yamamoto, spokeswoman for the Port of Los Angeles, in a telephone interview Wednesday morning. 'We're up and running and operating as usual.'
But once Australian ships loaded by replacement workers begin arriving in the U.S. - probably by next week - the situation could change.
One California port official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there's been scuttlebutt about a possible slowdown of operations when ships loaded in Australia by replacement workers arrive in the U.S.
'If there's a ship that picks up cargo in Australia loaded by scabs, the odds of it being unloaded in a timely fashion are extremely low,' the port official said. 'An Australian dockworker will come out with a sign and picket, or workers will find what they say is some sort of a health or safety problem with the goods and refuse to work.'
Stallone of the ILWU said U.S. workers have little choice except to support their fellow unionists overseas.
'If shipping companies get away with this there, it won't be long before they bust us,' Stallone said.
Patrick, the shipping company that dismissed the workers, said its move was necessary to improve productivity. It won a temporary court victory Wednesday against the MUA, preventing the union from stopping vehicles entering or leaving its docks in Sydney and Newcastle, The Associated Press reported.
U.S. protests could spread beyond the docks.
The AP on Wednesday quoted Bob Carnegie, an MUA official, saying, 'The East and West Coast longshoremen in the U.S. are talking about 20 million American trade unionists and their families boycotting Australian farm products.'
-By Daniel Rosenberg; 1-312-750-4118;
dan.rosenberg@news.wsj.com
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