Iowans in Congress concerned about West Coast port backlog

DES MOINES - A West Coast labor dispute is attracting the attention of Iowa's congressional delegation because of potential impact on the state's exports, especially meat.

And jobs, adds 1st District U.S. Rep. Rod Blum, who authored a letter to President Barack Obama in January asking him to help solve the dispute between the Pacific Maritime Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union that has resulted on a work slowdown at 29 West Coast ports that handle, among other things, 48 percent of this country's pork exports. Signed by all six members of the Iowa congressional delegation, the letter was delivered to the White House.

Earlier this week, Blum thanked the president for sending Labor Secretary Thomas Perez to help facilitate discussions between the parties.

'It's not a good situation,” Blum said about the slowdown. 'It's negatively impacting our producers here in Iowa and slowing down meatpacking plants.”

The disruption on the West Coast is costing U.S. exporters of agricultural products $1.75 billion each month, according to industry sources. Exports of containerized ag products from the West Coast are 50 percent lower than normal.

The American Meat Institute and the National Pork Producers Council claim that the West Coast delays are costing each industry $40 million per week.

However, it's not just meat producers and packer. Blum said colleagues from western states, for example, are concerned about delays in shipping fruits and vegetables.

'It is amazing, but it's not, how many industries here in Iowa either export their finished product or import some of their raw materials,” Blum said, adding he believed there was no doubt that if it continues it will hurt the state and national economies.

'As a businessman, I want to see the economy doing well,” he said. 'I want to see working families making money.”

Beyond the short-term bottleneck, Blum said meat producers are concerned that their goods are losing value while sitting on the docks and that buyers on the other side of the Pacific won't accept shipment.

It could affect meat price, he said, 'and they will look elsewhere for beef and pork.”