BAY AREA COUNCIL CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE END TO DAMAGING WEST COAST PORTS LABOR DISPUTE

Following the weekend (Feb. 7-8) closure of the Port of Oakland and 28 other West Coast ports over a long-running contract dispute, the Bay Area Council is calling for an immediate end to the protracted impasse that is causing major economic impacts and undermining the Bay Area and Northern California’s ability to compete globally.

“We’ve got to give this damaging port dispute the heave ho,” said Jim Wunderman, President and CEO of the Bay Area Council. “The Bay Area can’t afford a further escalation of a labor dispute that is unnecessarily costing our economy billions of dollars and threatening to drive our valuable trade business elsewhere. We’ve invested millions of taxpayer dollars to upgrade our port and position the Bay Area to compete in the ruthless global trade market. The Port of Oakland alone generates $41 billion annually in trade activity, supports 73,000 jobs and contributes $10 billion annually in economic benefits to the East Bay and beyond.* There’s too much at stake for this impasse to hold hostage such a critical segment of our economy and threaten its long-term viability.”

*California Chamber of Commerce, 2014