Terminal operators on Wednesday accused longshoremen of initiating a work slowdown in Southern California, and threatened retaliation that could shut down ports up and down the West Coast.

The action follows four months of labor peace since contract talks between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association began May 13.

The PMA told the union to end its slowdown at the Stevedoring Services of America terminal in Long Beach or it would take unspecified "defensive action" against the union.

"At this point, all options are open," said Joseph Miniace, president of the PMA, which represents shipping lines and terminal operators. That could include a lock-out of union employees at all West Coast ports.

The ILWU used slowdowns to pressure management during contract negotiations in 1999 and 1996.

The PMA charged dockworkers initiated a slowdown in Long Beach against SSA, a PMA member, on Monday by failing to provide enough skilled labor, especially crane operators, to handle the work. The ILWU went back to work at full strength for one shift on Tuesday, but the job actions resumed Tuesday night and continued into Wednesday, the PMA said in a statement.

"The ILWU's initiation of this slowdown threatens to trigger significant disruptions at West Coast ports," the PMA stated. SSA, which also operates terminals in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California, on Monday filed an unfair labor charge with the National Labor Relations Board in Los Angeles against the ILWU international union and against ILWU Local 13 in Southern California.

The complaint charges that the ILWU actions have "delayed the loading and unloading of ships, reduced the amount of work being performed in the yard and on the ships and on the rails and have caused substantial and continuing monetary damages." SSA charged that the ILWU's actions took place at Pier J at the Port of Long Beach.

The ILWU earlier this week released a statement that accused SSA of being "the main roadblock in negotiations between the ILWU and PMA because SSA has promoted an agenda that seeks to move as much work away from unions as possible."

The union noted the stevedore's decision in the mid-1990s to move marine clerk planning jobs to Salt Lake City; its use of non-union drivers to move containers to its off-dock container storage facilities, and its establishment of off-dock container freight stations where it employs non-union labor.

Employers, however, note that a number of shipping lines and terminal operators have followed similar practices over the years.

The real issue, they say, is a jurisdictional dispute between the ILWU and the International Association of Machinists at another terminal that SSA is preparing to operate in Long Beach. The Pier A terminal is being vacated by Hanjin Shipping Co. as it moves to a new 375-acre terminal at the port. SSA is taking over the Pier A facility and intends to assign about 50 equipment maintenance and repair jobs to the machinist union instead of the ILWU.

Don Crosatto, president of IAM District 190 in Oakland, said the union believed it had reached an agreement with the ILWU over the weekend at a meeting brokered by the AFL-CIO.

The ILWU would get about 60 maintenance and repair jobs at the 484-acre Maersk Sealand terminal that opened in August at the Port of Los Angeles and the IAM would get about 50 maintenance and repair jobs at Pier A in Long Beach when SSA takes over that facility.

But Crosatto said the IWLU on Monday began 'hard-timing' SSA at its Pier J terminal in Long Beach because, he claimed, it wants the maintenance and repair jobs at Pier A as well.

ILWU spokesman Steve Stallone said union officials could not be immediately contacted for comment.

Miniace of the PMA said employers and the ILWU have been negotiating regularly in recent weeks and had been making progress on the critical technology that are at the heart of the new contract. But he added that the slowdowns against SSA cannot be allowed to continue.

"The union is playing with fire and appears to be willing to jeopardize America's economic interests by initiating hit-and-run tactics against members of the PMA," Miniace said.

By Bill Mongelluzzo