Western ports return to normal after workers' war protest

Shearman said many longshore workers on the West Coast took May Day off last year to participate in immigration rallies.

"Everything is back to normal. Assignments are being dispatched," Craig Merrilees, a spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, said Thursday evening.

Longshore workers handle everything from operating cranes at port marine terminals to clerical work like coordinating truck cargo deliveries.

Due to the walkout, trucker James Laudermill, 48, spent the morning washing his truck and fueling up on diesel at a truck wash in the Los Angeles suburb of Wilmington after he was turned away at the nearby Port of Long Beach.

"I was trying to pick up a load this morning, and I was at the speaker and suddenly security came out and run us all out," he said, adding he would lose about $400 because of the walkout.

In the current contract talks, port employers are seeking productivity increases through shift adjustments and technology upgrades.

The union wants better safety standards and increased compensation.

Shippers have said the average full-time dockworker made $136,000 in 2007. The union disputes that figure, stressing that only 10,000 of the 25,000 workers covered by the current contract worked full-time or more hours.

Getzug said employers were concerned about the impact of the walkout on contract talks. He did not elaborate.

A 10-day lockout during a 2002 contract dispute cost the nation's economy an estimated $1 billion to $2 billion a day.