Contract talks between shippers and union longshoremen resumed Thursday in San Francisco as federal mediators try to broker a deal in the bitter waterfront contract dispute.

The bargaining session between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union is the first since U.S. Pacific ports re-opened Oct. 9 following a management lock-out of labor. Steve Stallone, a spokesman for the ILWU, said the talks resumed at 9 a.m. local time (12 p.m. ET) and are expected to continue Thursday afternoon and Friday. He could not say whether negotiators had made any early progress.

"We need to agree on a new contract that's good for the continuing development of the American economy and fair to the ILWU," said PMA spokesman John Pachtner.

The negotiations resumed one day after the PMA submitted evidence to the Justice Department alleging a "concerted, systematic work slowdown impacting productivity at every major port" on the West Coast since the 10-day shutdown ended.

Ocean terminals on Thursday continue to chip away at the logjam of cargo and container traffic as more than 200 vessels were anchored outside West Coast ports waiting for space at the docks.

Seventy vessels were anchored at the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach, the nation's busiest container hub, with 25 vessels expected to arrive over the next two days on weekly trans-Pacific services.

The Department of Justice has given port employers and labor until Friday to provide more information and documentation on the allegations of slowdowns.

The injunction obtained by the Bush administration under the Taft-Hartley Act prohibits lock-outs, slowdowns or other work stoppages. The injunction runs through Dec. 26.

While the PMA's actions don't constitute a formal complaint, PMA spokesman John Pachtner on Wednesday said waterfront employers expect that the Justice Department will review the evidence "and take action they consider appropriate so the ports can return to normal productivity."

In a news release, the PMA said during the first week back to work under the Taft-Hartley Act, productivity fell 34 percent at Oakland, 29 percent at Portland, 27 percent at Seattle, 19 percent at Tacoma, and 9 percent at Los Angeles-Long Beach.

"These productivity figures are based on gross container moves per hour - a direct, objective measure - in comparison to historical data correlated to specific vessels and terminals," the PMA stated.

The union has blamed the slow cargo handling on a shortage of equipment and terminal congestion caused by the lock-out.

Employers also reported anecdotal information concerning specific actions taken at various terminals, Pachtner said.

For example, the ILWU on many occasions dispatched work gangs that were almost complete, but missing one or two key workers such as supervisor clerks or equipment operators, in effect rendering the terminal unworkable.

Key marine clerks reported an hour or more late to their jobs on a number of occasions. Paperwork was lost. Some workers performed their tasks in a "comically inefficient manner," Pachtner said. Workers called for numerous equipment inspections. Work was stopped when workers asked for clarification of well-known regulations.

Payroll data also indicates workers trained for skilled operating positions regularly took positions that had nothing to do with their training, resulting in a shortage of skilled operators at key positions on the terminals, Pachtner said.

The PMA release cited an incident that occurred on Oct. 14 in which a terminal in Los Angeles-Long Beach ordered four marine clerks to work the gates. Just as the shift started, three of the clerks said they were sick and left the job site.

Marine clerks who receive electronic data on vessel manifests and manually re-enter the information for use by terminals are a focus of the contract talks. Employers want to eliminate clerk positions and electronically transmit vessel manifest data directly to terminals.

"The ILWU is playing games with the U.S. economy and inflicting economic pain and hardship on scores of companies and their employees," said PMA President Joseph Miniace.

Five West Coast senators on Wednesday urged Labor Secretary Elaine Chao to assign full-time federal inspectors to monitor safety and health conditions at the ports.

"The extreme conditions on the docks created by the port shutdown make a hazardous work environment even more dangerous, and make it all the more important that established safety and health rules be followed and enforced," read the letter, which was signed by five Democratic senators -Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer of California, Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray of Washington and Ron Wyden of Oregon.

By Bill Mongelluzzo