On Wednesday, 02/18/15, the PMA and the ILWU met separately with Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez, who was sent by the White House to urge them to come to an agreement, according to people familiar with the negotiations. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti also joined to stress “the importance of reaching an immediate agreement before the dispute causes further economic damage,” according to a Department of Labor official.
Meanwhile, work at the ports has slowed to a crawl, and as of Thursday morning, 30 ships were anchored in line to get into the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Twenty-three of those were container ships, a number unchanged from Wednesday.
Goods continue to be transported to the Alaska and Hawaii markets; however, the transit time has been impacted by the labor slow down.
(source: Wall Street Journal, Laura Stevens)