White house likely to intervene in port lockout

U.S. President, George W. Bush, took the first step to organize an inspection committee for port strikes in order to break up the “Port Lockout” of 29 ports along the West Coast which is going into its second week, said the spokesman at the White House October 7.
A Spokesman for the White House said the President signed to set up a committee to look into and help resolve the port strikes.
According to the “Taft-Hartley Law”, the inspection committee is entitled to ask port laborers to return to their work and to reopen the ports for an 80-day period.
This action came several hours later when the Federal Intervention Organizer suspended negotiations between the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU).
Economic experts estimate that the port strikes may cause $2 billion in loses this week unless the strike is settled.
The port lock out enforced by the PMA against illegal slow down strikes by port laborers forced millions dollars of fruits and meats to be disposed of. Toyota and General Motors (GM) also dismissed workers and reduced production in the wake of car part shortages from Japan.