Ports shutdown costs US $2bn a day

LABOUR talks between longshoremen and shipping lines have failed after the union rejected the latest proposal in a dispute that has shut down West Coast ports at a cost of 2 billion dollars a day.

After the International Longshore and Warehouse Union rejected the offer, talks broke off indefinitely, said Steve Sugerman, a spokesman for the Pacific Maritime Association.

"The PMA presented a comprehensive proposal to the longshore union, which would have made their members the highest-paid blue-collar workers in America," Mr Sugerman said.