Are Dockworkers Dragging Their Feet?

And things seemed to be going so smoothly.

Steamship operators are steaming mad this week after a series of
reported worker slowdowns at ports up and down the West Coast
hampered the loading and unloading of their commodity-laden cargo
ships.

The Pacific Maritime Association is accusing longshoremen of taking
unauthorized smoke breaks, driving tractors like grandmas and general all-around laziness as dockworkers begin their 17th day without a new labor contract.

Waterfront bosses claim things are especially bad in the ports of Long Beach and
Los Angeles - the nation's largest - where productivity has dropped
20 percent or so in recent days.

"Keeping the ports open, productive and secure are critical to the
American economy, especially during a time of economic downturn and
uncertainty,"  the PMA said Thursday, before blasting the
International Longshore and Warehouse Union for jeapordizing "an already fragile economy that can ill afford another hit."

The union, meanwhile, says the 15-minute smoke/coffee breaks - which are
taken every four hours or so - are much ado about nothing.

 "I wonder if they've been drinking too much coffee over at PMA
because they seem to be getting worked up over a fairly minor
situation," the ILWU's Craig Merrilees told East Coast reporters. "The ports are
open, cargo's moving, the longshoremen are working hard, so what's
the big deal?"

The previous pact, a six-year deal reached in the days after a bitter
10-day lockout in 2002, expired July 1. Both sides have bargained
since, and union leaders have urged workers to report to work until
told otherwise.