Bush intervenes in shipping ports strike

George Bush intervened yesterday to try to end the economically crippling shutdown of West Coast shipping ports, taking the first legal step towards ordering dockers back to work and declaring an 80-day cooling-off period.

With no sign of progress between union leaders and the port operators, the President formed a board of inquiry that will assess the situation and report back within 24 hours. At that point, the White House would be legally empowered to go to court and demand that the ports reopen while the negotiations continue. The week-long shutdown, sparked by a protracted argument over job security and new technology, is draining an estimated $2bn (£1.3bn) from the American economy every day. Factories have come to a standstill and thousands of workers have been laid off.

The White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said: "Clearly, the longer this goes on, the longer the parties are incapable of reaching an agreement between themselves, the more damage it's doing to America's economy and hurting people who are wholly unrelated to events on the West Coast."