In lieu of the ongoing feud between shipping companies and dockworkers in ports up and down the West Coast, the Obama Administration is sending Secretary of Labor Tom Perez in an attempt to negotiate an agreement. Shippers have refused to increase dockworkers' pay for weekend shifts and Monday's federal holiday in retaliation for what it sees as a dramatic drop in productivity, leaving the loading and unloading of shipping containers at a near standstill. Negotiations between the two sides have been ongoing for months, most recently getting tied up over a disagreement regarding "the system of binding arbitration in contract disputes."
See "Labor secretary to help reach West Coast port deal", Alex Dobuzinskis, Reuters, February 15, 2015