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Dock Workers Due Back on Job

Aired October 09, 2002 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: West Coast ports are reopening and dock workers are due back on the job five hours from now, following a 10-day lockout that has cost billions of dollars. President Bush got an injunction to reopen the ports.
And there's a lot of work to be done.

Jen Rogers reports from Oakland, California.

Hi -- Jen.

JEN ROGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra.

A lot of work to be done is right. The Port of Oakland getting ready to get back to business today. The work that you see going on behind us here at the terminal that we are at is actually shipments, essential shipments, for Alaska, Hawaii and military cargo, as well. That work has been going on for a number of days. What we are going to see, though, starting, the Pacific Maritime Association says, at about 6:00 p.m. tonight for all major ports up and down the West Coast will be getting back to the regular shifts, the regular business, and all other shipments.

Now, the union says at this point, they don't know how many workers will be back on the docks tonight. Management says the demand for labor exceeds the available labor right now. They say, though, that they are placing orders rather conservatively right now so as not to overwhelm the system.

Already, with just these the shipments for Hawaii, Alaska and the military, we are seeing very long lines here of trucks. I talked to one trucker just a couple of minutes ago who said he waited nine hours to get in today. I talked to one trucking manager this morning who thinks that tomorrow, once we kind of get into the regular roll of things going on, that these lines, basically, could quadruple.

So the activity level has picked up here, and it looks to be increasing substantially this evening with that first regular shift set to begin at 6:00 p.m. local time -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jen, I can imagine workers are going to be rushing to get things done. There is a lot to do. Are they concerned with safety?

ROGERS: Safety is a very big issue, especially for the union. The backlog here that people are talking about is about six weeks to nine weeks. And the union is very concerned that these ports and these docks are very congested with all these goods and containers sitting around. So they say that is very important to them. The management, though, says safety is important to them, as well, but they don't want it used as an excuse to slow down. So a bit of a little tension surrounding that. But the union saying safety is their number one priority.

PHILLIPS: Our Jen Rogers from Oakland, California. Thanks, Jen.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired October 9, 2002 - 14:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: West Coast ports are reopening and dock workers are due back on the job five hours from now, following a 10-day lockout that has cost billions of dollars. President Bush got an injunction to reopen the ports.
And there's a lot of work to be done.

Jen Rogers reports from Oakland, California.

Hi -- Jen.

JEN ROGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra.

A lot of work to be done is right. The Port of Oakland getting ready to get back to business today. The work that you see going on behind us here at the terminal that we are at is actually shipments, essential shipments, for Alaska, Hawaii and military cargo, as well. That work has been going on for a number of days. What we are going to see, though, starting, the Pacific Maritime Association says, at about 6:00 p.m. tonight for all major ports up and down the West Coast will be getting back to the regular shifts, the regular business, and all other shipments.

Now, the union says at this point, they don't know how many workers will be back on the docks tonight. Management says the demand for labor exceeds the available labor right now. They say, though, that they are placing orders rather conservatively right now so as not to overwhelm the system.

Already, with just these the shipments for Hawaii, Alaska and the military, we are seeing very long lines here of trucks. I talked to one trucker just a couple of minutes ago who said he waited nine hours to get in today. I talked to one trucking manager this morning who thinks that tomorrow, once we kind of get into the regular roll of things going on, that these lines, basically, could quadruple.

So the activity level has picked up here, and it looks to be increasing substantially this evening with that first regular shift set to begin at 6:00 p.m. local time -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Jen, I can imagine workers are going to be rushing to get things done. There is a lot to do. Are they concerned with safety?

ROGERS: Safety is a very big issue, especially for the union. The backlog here that people are talking about is about six weeks to nine weeks. And the union is very concerned that these ports and these docks are very congested with all these goods and containers sitting around. So they say that is very important to them. The management, though, says safety is important to them, as well, but they don't want it used as an excuse to slow down. So a bit of a little tension surrounding that. But the union saying safety is their number one priority.

PHILLIPS: Our Jen Rogers from Oakland, California. Thanks, Jen.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com