GM, DELPHI Keeping eyes on supply

The West Coast port shutdown has two Valley plants making contingency plans.
STAFF/WIRE REPORTS
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Mahoning Valley's two largest manufacturers are working on alternate supply plans in case the shutdown of West Coast ports leaves them short of parts.
General Motors' Lordstown Assembly Plant expects to operate normally for a few weeks, but some of its suppliers report problems could develop if the ports remain closed, said Tom Mock, a plant spokesman.
These suppliers send components to the plant that use parts brought into this country through the West Coast, where docks have been shut down since Sunday because of a labor dispute.
Mock said GM and the suppliers are working to determine if there would be other ways of getting the parts in question.
Delphi Corp. is monitoring the situation closely but doesn't expect to miss any customer deliveries, said Brad Jackson, a company spokesman.
Jackson said Delphi has back-up transportation plans that it can use in such circumstances, but he wouldn't disclose specifics.
Delphi is the parent company of Warren-based Delphi Packard Electric Systems, which employs about 6,500 people at various area plants. It produces wiring systems and related components for carmakers and other companies.
Seeking intervention
Meanwhile, manufacturers are taking their case to the White House to press for President Bush's intervention in the labor dispute.
Administration officials and manufacturers were to meet today as dockworkers and shipping officials were to continue talks that began Thursday with a federal mediator.
Neither side expected a fast resolution.
"We were told to bring our toothbrushes," said Joseph Miniace, lead negotiator for the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping lines.
The stalemate has stopped all commercial shipping at 29 ports in California, Oregon and Washington. The work stoppage could be costing the U.S. economy $2 billion a day, said Robert Parry, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
Under the Taft-Hartley Act, the president can block a strike or lockout for 80 days if the dispute will "imperil the national health or safety." An inquiry board would need to investigate the issue, which could take several days.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Thursday the U.S. economy is at risk, but wouldn't speculate on whether the president would intervene.
"The administration continues to urge labor and management to come together to get an agreement because the longer this goes, the more harm it will do to the economy," he said. "The president is routinely informed of the status."
Workers locked out
After talks broke down last week, the Pacific Maritime Association locked out about 10,500 dockworkers Sunday, claiming they had engaged in an illegal slowdown.
Along the coast, 162 ships were either idle at the docks or have dropped anchor, waiting to unload cargo, according to the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents the shipping lines and terminal operators.
The two sides are at odds over pensions and other benefits, as well as the union's demand to control any new jobs that would come with the introduction of modern cargo-handling technology.