Dive Brief:

• Worries that drawn-out labor negotiations at West Coast ports could complicate retailers' holiday logistics look to be well founded as of last week.

• Until now both sides characterized the talks as friendly despite the lack of resolution. Dockworkers have worked without a contract since July. But the Pacific Maritime Association, which runs the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, is now saying the union is failing to provide enough workers to keep operations there running smoothly.

• "The threat of a West Coast port shutdown is creating high levels of uncertainty in a fragile economic climate," the National Retail Federation said in a Nov. 6 letter to President Barack Obama, in which it also requests the help of a federal mediator to resolve the talks. 

Dive Insight:

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) maintains, and the Pacific Maritime Association actually agrees to some extent, that much of the slowdown at West Coast ports is due to factors outside these labor negotiations. But these talks, which seemed cordial for much of the summer despite the lack of resolution, are beginning to sound acrimonious. That doesn’t bode well for retailers trying to get their hands on inventory as the holidays steam ahead.