Newhouse seeks to slow port slowdowns with new bill

Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside, is getting behind a second bill to help agriculture deal with port slowdowns.

This time, Newhouse plans to be the primary sponsor for the Ensuring Continued Operations and No Other Major Incidents, Closures or Slowdowns — or ECONOMICS — Act.

The proposed bill, which he discussed at a news conference Monday at the Easterday Farms potato packing facility in Pasco, would put in place “triggers” to require a board of inquiry be created to report to the president in a port slowdown, strike or lockout.

The law now allows the president to voluntarily create such a board, which uses a legal mediation process in a dispute between management and labor.

The bill would also broaden the definition of “strike” throughout labor law to give the president authority to intervene in a variety of work stoppages, threatened stoppages or slowdowns.

Triggers to convene a board would include a dispute at four or more port facilities, an impact on at least 6,000 employees and at least a 15 percent drop in United States exports or a drop of 5 percent or more in two consecutive months.

“The legislation specifies that the board must include in its report whether a labor dispute was responsible for the slowdown, and make a recommendation to the president on whether legal action should be taken to protect our economy,” Newhouse said, against a backdrop of Easterday potato boxes.

The bill attempts to avert long disputes like the slowdown at 29 West Coast ports between May 2014 and February 2015, when the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union were involved in negotiations.

Newhouse cited data about how devastating the port slowdown was for agriculture. Washington’s apple industry lost $100 million in sales opportunities and canceled orders, he said. National agricultural export losses reached $400 million a week in December 2014.

Potato growers estimated they’ve lost $23.5 million in french fry exports, while exports from West Coast ports dropped by 20.5 percent in the first quarter of 2015, Newhouse said.

“The devastating effects of the months-long dispute show the critical need to make a line in the sand — because two parties should not be able to hold a whole economy hostage,” he said.

Newhouse previously signed on as a co-sponsor, along with Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Issaquah, for the PORTS Act, which stands for Protecting Orderly and Responsible Transit and Shipment. That bill would expand the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 by also allowing governors of states with port work stoppages to petition courts for injunctions if the president doesn’t act within 10 days of receiving a request.

The contract approved in the ports dispute runs into 2019. But farmers at Newhouse’s news conference said that could come up quickly.

Steve Cooper, a Basin City farmer who serves as vice president of the state Farm Bureau, is cutting back on the number of alfalfa hay acres he grows after he was left with a backlog of the crop because of the slowdown, he said.

It will take time for agriculture to rebuild relationships soured by the slowdown, Cooper said.

“I bet you four or five years from now, when it’s time to negotiate the next contract, we’re still feeling the effects,” Cooper said.

Newhouse’s bills would help keep agriculture sustainable in Washington, said Farm Bureau President Mike LaPlant, an Ephrata-area farmer.

“It’s going to be interesting to see the response from the labor side of the issue, but it seems reasonable,” he said.

A spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union could not be reached for comment Monday.

This story was originally published October 5, 2015 at 3:15 PM with the headline "Newhouse seeks to slow port slowdowns with new bill."