After 11 days of shutdown at 29 West Coast ports, President Bush stepped in to stop a lockout that has cost between $1 billion and $2 billion in lost retail revenue each day.

To end the management lockout, the president invoked the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, asking a federal court in San Francisco to issue a restraining order that would last 80 days. This is the first time in 24 years that a president has used the act.

“For over a week, our ports along the Pacific Coast have been shut down. These ports handle more than $300 billion a year in trade. The work stoppage is hurting our entire economy,” President Bush said in his address. “It is hurting truckers and rail operators who carry goods to other parts of America. It’s hurting farmers and ranchers and manufacturers, retailers and consumers who make, buy and sell the products that pass through our ports.”

International Mass Retail Association president Robert J. Verdisco said in a letter addressed to President Bush, the secretaries of commerce, labor, transportation and treasury and the U.S. trade representative, that the shutdown of ports was impacting all areas of the U.S. economy.

“This includes agricultural exports sitting on the docks, railroads sitting idle (and) not accepting containers destined for export, the loss of drayage work at the ports, the depletion of just-in-time manufacturing inventories forcing assembly lines to shut down,” the letter read.

Bush agreed the strike hurt the country’s security and economy and called for action from the federal government.

“Americans are working hard every day to bring our economy back from recession. This nation simply cannot afford to have hundreds of billions of dollars a year in potential manufacturing and agricultural trade sitting idle,” Bush said. “We can’t afford it.”

The U.S. Justice Department filed with courts, citing economic and security concerns.

Attorney General John Ashcroft said at the address that the injunction would allow the ports to reopen, which would be beneficial to the economy and national security.

“This injunction will provide time for the parties to settle the dispute without irreparably harming multiple industries and putting tens of thousands of American jobs and paychecks in jeopardy,” he said in a statement.

Bush said the situation allowed him no other choice.

“After a lot of work, particularly by our Labor Department and its secretary, after a lot of discussions, we have been unable to bring the two parties together. And, therefore, stronger action is required,” Bush said. “Because the operation of western ports is vital to our economy and to our military, I have determined that the current situation imperils our national health and safety.”

Bush said he hopes the injunction will give both parties more time to resolve their differences but noted it is not a permanent solution to the problem.

“The ultimate responsibility for an agreement lies with the worker representatives and the port operators,” he said. “I expect both sides to put the concerns of our national health and safety first and work in good faith to resolve their differences as quickly as possible.”

Port management officials said although ports will resume operations today, it will take six to seven weeks to clear the backlog of cargo, which has been amassing for the start of the holiday shopping season.

For each strike day, businesses were forced to close car factories, retail stores were missing imports, and produce for supermarkets rotted.

Kathryn Lavriha, senior vice president of government affairs for IMRA, testified on the effects of the strike yesterday in front of the Committee on Education.

Lavriha said manufacturers do not keep more than two weeks of critical parts on hand because retailers cannot afford to maintain large inventories.

She said despite re-opening today, the effects will not end because it will take more than two months to unsnarl the ship traffic jam that now exists off U.S. shores. “This means it could be weeks before parts shipments arrive,” she said.

According to Lavriha, port workers fear they will be replaced with new technology.

“To date, many of the processes at our nation’s ports use paper and pencils instead of hand scanners and computers, and one reason for this is the existing contract between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union [ILWU],” she said. “For the ILWU, of course, new technologies mean fewer jobs and also pose the risk that technology jobs might be moved to data-processing centers that are not on the waterfront and, therefore, not under ILWU jurisdiction.”

Striking workers who load and unload ships make nearly $100,000 a year, while clerks who keep track of cargo movements average $120,000. Benefits average $42,000 a year.

Negotiations between the two parties will continue, and the port lockdown could resume if after 80 days they cannot reach a contract agreement.

Spokespersons for the unions did not return phone calls.

— Julia Westhoff and Reuters contributed to this report.