LOS ANGELES — A federal mediator said West Coast waterfront employers and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union may resume negotiations Thursday.

Peter J. Hurtgen, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, said he hoped to hear from the ILWU Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning local time. The Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping lines and terminal operators, has stated on numerous occasions that they are willing to meet with federal mediators. The union has resisted outside involvement in the contract negotiations since they began on May 13.

In a statement Wednesday, the ILWU said its representatives met earlier in the day with Hurtgen, and they were considering the federal mediator's offer but had not yet made a decision.

Wednesday's developments were in stark contrast to a meeting Tuesday at the federal mediator's offices in Oakland. ILWU President James Spinosa and his negotiators walked out of the meeting when PMA President Joseph Miniace showed up with two armed security guards. Published reports said Miniace had received death threats.

Employers Sunday shut down all the ports and said they would not lift the lock-out until the ILWU agreed to extend the contract it worked under for three years until it expired on July 1. The contract forbids the kind of work slowdowns that led to the lock-out. Spinosa has refused to extend the contract.

At least 80 vessels are sitting idle in Los Angeles-Long Beach or at anchorages nearby, according to the Marine Exchange of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The Exchange said about 10 vessels have been diverted from the nation's largest port complex, some to Mexican ports, some to the Panama Canal and some back to the ports where they had loaded.

The International Longshoremen's Association, which represents dock workers on the East and Gulf coasts, stated earlier in the week that it did not wish to work any vessels diverted from the West Coast. However, any job actions by the ILA might have to be taken by individual longshoremen rather than from directions from the ILA headquarters in order to avoid substantial fines for secondary boycotts.

Although importers and exporters are beginning to feel the pain of the lock-out, they continue to support the efforts by waterfront employers to negotiate a contract that results in tangible productivity gains at West Coast ports. "No one is calling the PMA and telling them to back down," said Robin Lanier, executive director of the West Coast Waterfront Coalition. The PMA wants the flexibility to introduce new technology at West Coast terminals, but the union has demanded in return jurisdictional guarantees employers are not willing to make. The types of technology that employers want to use, such as optical character readers and computerized yard management systems that minimize human intervention, have been utilized for years in Asian ports that have three or four times the volume-per-acre throughput of West Coast ports.

The West Coast Waterfront Coalition, which includes the nation's largest retailers, also wants the West Coast ports re-opened immediately. The coalition wrote a letter to President Bush urging him to use whatever means he deems necessary to re-open the ports.

While most retailers are still working off merchandise they imported earlier than usual this year, factories that rely on imported parts for just-in-time manufacturing are in danger of shutting down, Lanier said.

Isolated incidents of friction continue to be reported on the docks. ILWU picketers on Wednesday threatened members of the International Association of Machinists who were working at a marine terminal in Seattle, said Don Crosatto, area director of IAM District 190. "The business agent told them, 'You're not getting in there,'" Crosatto said. The machinists left the terminal.

The machinists union, which has been involved in a jurisdictional dispute with the ILWU for two years over maintenance and repair work at West Coast terminals, has refused to honor the ILWU's picket lines. Crosatto said a longshoreman punched one machinist in the jaw Tuesday in Oakland.

Bill Mongelluzzo