A contract dispute between the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), representing shipping and stevedoring employers, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), representing 10,500 West Coast dockworkers, arose in July 2002 and resulted in PMA's closure of all 29 ports on the West Coast. Beginning September 27, 2002, workers were locked out for 11 days, the first major work stoppage on western docks since the 1971 longshore workers strike.

Taken about a week before the lock out, this image shows some of the nearly 300 dockworkers and supporters (including members of other unions) rallying outside the Seattle offices of Stevedoring Services of America (formerly Bellingham Stevedoring Company). Work resumed in October 2002 after a court order opened the ports, however it was another six weeks before the union and employers reached an agreement. The new contract gave dock workers benefit and pay increases and gave the union jurisdiction of additional job positions, while the PMA won the right to use new technology for cargo tracking.

Caption information source: "Shippers see dockworker slowdown," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 19, 2002, page 33.
Caption information source: "Employers lock out longshore workers at West Coast ports on September 27, 2002," by Kit Oldham, HistoryLink.org Essay 8692.