Longshoremen and warehouse workers are striking against a refrigeration company at the 10th Avenue Marine Terminal. It's the first strike by dock workers at the Port of San Diego in several years. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.
A handful of workers are maintaining a 24 hour picket line around Harborside Refrigeration Services, a privately owner warehouse that handles 25 percent of Dole's fruit imports through the port of San Diego.
Irene McCormack of the San Diego Port District says Dole ships are continuing to unload fruit and store them on their own lot.
McCormack: Dole has a 26 acre facility at the 10th avenue marine terminal with plenty of room to store their fruit mostly bananas and keep them refrigerated and fresh.
Peter Olney of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union says dock workers in local 29 have not had a pay raise in five years, and are dissatisfied at the speed of negotiations.
Olney: If the strike continues, it becomes a major black eye for the Port of san Diego. There are actions up and down the west coast in the past couple of months in the port of Seattle and Tacoma, but this is the first action in the Port of san Diego in a long time.
Olney says employees were galvanized by the death of a worker recently whose health insurance was withdrawn, even though he'd worked at Harborside for seven years. Harborside is the largest cold storage facility on the west coast.
An arbitrator has been called into mediate, and negotiations will resume this afternoon.
Alison St John, KPBS News.
