McAlester business hurting because of West Coast labor dispute

Wednesday, October 2nd 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

The West Coast port lockout is not just holding up business in California, Oregon, and Washington State, the labor dispute is putting a hold on some business here in Green Country.

A McAlester warehouse is stacked with merchandise. And with West Coast negotiations still on hold, so is business at Komar and Son. James Middleton with Komar and Son "Right now we have a lot of goods sitting out in the harbor in Los Angeles unfortunately and in addition we have a lot of product on its way to Los Angeles."

Komar and Son sews and ships ladies sleepwear. But the longshoreman's lockout means that they can't get items and they can't send them out. And it couldn't have come at a worst time. â€œChristmas season this is projected to be the biggest month ever shipping in the history of the company." Goods fill this warehouse now but they're supposed to be heading to store shelves.

If the lockout continues, Komar and Son stands to lose clients and that means some of their 260 employees could lose their jobs. â€œRight now we don't see an immediate affect but 10 days from now we may be looking at potential layoffs."

Komar and Son employee, Dee Garman, "we have many single parents and we also have many people of retirement age and it would be hard for them to find employment elsewhere.â€ Komar and Son employees say they're not directly involved but they're directly affected. So they're taking their concerns to Congress and both sides of the port dispute. â€œI plead to the people involved in the negotiations that they realize they're are lives that are affected by this."

Komar and Son employees are writing their Congressmen to try to get some government intervention in the labor dispute. They say the lockout is holding up more than 100,000 imports from the Pacific Rim.