LOS ANGELES — Seeking an end to a protracted labor dispute that has led to costly delays in West Coast shipping, President Obama has decided to intervene, the White House announced on Saturday.

At the president’s request, Thomas E. Perez, the secretary of labor, will travel to California to “meet with the parties to urge them to resolve their dispute quickly at the bargaining table,” according to a statement issued by Eric Schultz, a White House spokesman. Mr. Perez will try to mediate a settlement between an association of the major shipowners of the West Coast and the union of longshoremen who unload those ships, which collectively bring in half the nation’s imported cargo.

The White House statement said the president was acting “out of concern for the economic consequences of further delay” and added, “Secretary Perez is already in contact with the parties and will keep the president fully updated.”

For about nine months, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, whose workers unload cargo with giant cranes, then move it onto trucks and trains, has been in negotiations with shipowners, represented by the Pacific Maritime Association. The negotiations cover operations at 29 ports, including large ones in Long Beach and Los Angeles, in Southern California; Oakland in Northern California; and the Puget Sound.

The owners and the workers each accuse the other of causing the growing congestion and delays. Hopes of a settlement had risen last month as the two sides invited in a federal mediator, but over the last two weeks, fears of a lockout or a near-total shutdown have increased.

The owners accuse the longshoremen of engaging in severe work slowdowns and, in the Los Angeles-Long Beach complex, of refusing to allow experienced but uncertified crane operators — the linchpins of dock operations — to work. But the union says plenty of qualified workers are ready to meet any demand and accuses the owners of manufacturing a crisis to punish workers financially and to force them to settle.

continue reading Obama to Intervene in Dispute at West Coast Ports