Continuing disruptive labor actions by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are entering their third week and are now rolling to the Port of Oakland, the Pacific Maritime Association said.

Some terminals are reporting extreme productivity falloffs in the servicing of vessels over the last two weeks at the Southern California ports, the busiest container ports in the nation. Rather than heed the call to resume normal productivity levels in the ports, however, the Union leaders are expanding their actions against the ports to the Bay Area. Productivity levels in Oakland are off this week at an average of over 15% with falloff in some terminals over the last four days of as much as 40%. There is growing frustration that the ILWU is engaging in these deliberate job actions undermining productivity and the contract negotiations. Despite the slowdown tactics, the PMA has exercised extraordinary patience and continues to negotiate in good faith hoping to avoid disruption at the ports.

Over the last two weeks, more than a third of the vessels in southern California have had productivity drops of over 20%. More than one in ten have had productivity fall over 30%. This has resulted in disruption of schedules, with some vessels forced to sail leaving cargo and empty containers on the docks in order to maintain schedules.