Having worked for one of the shipping companies (management) within the port of Long Beach for six years, I can tell you this much. There has been tensions between the ILWU and shipping companies for years. The shipping companies are tired of being held hostage by the increasing demands of the ILWU, in which many of the members already enjoy six figure salaries.

Work stoppages/work slow downs have been a common tactic used by the ILWU when their demands have not been met. Shipping companies feel as if they can not provide the best possible service to customers having to deal with such threats on a regular basis. They have a point.

The unions are nervous regarding the Baja port because it has the potential to eliminate jobs here on the West Coast. Stevedoring costs can be substantially reduced by conducting operations with non-union labor down in Baja. The freight is simply off-loaded and then trucked across the border and on to the customer.

This could have the potential to reduce teu's into the LA/LB port by as much as 25-30%, and substantially reduce operating costs for the shipping lines.