ILA CALLS FOR SHUTDOWN OF US PORTS

ILA CALLS FOR SHUTDOWN OF US PORTS

International Longshoremen’s Association locals along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts are calling for a shutdown of ports and a march on Washington next week.

ILA, which represents labor for port terminals from Portland, Maine, to Galveston, Texas, said it anticipates the Washington protest bringing “much of America’s port economy to a halt.”

The daylong protest in Washington – the date is yet to be announced – is intended to highlight hiring practices in some U.S. ports aimed at reducing the number of dockworkers, and to call for the elimination of the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor.

The union specifically pointed out the South Caroline Port Authority for reducing the number of dockworkers through hiring non-union state workers.

The Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, a bi-state entity created in 1953, requires congressional approval to operate because it is an interstate compact. “The commission’s self-created system of background checks for all that work on the now largely mechanized waterfront is resulting in job shortages throughout the Port of New York and New Jersey and damaging the U.S. economy,” the ILA said.

ILA members expressed concerns that potential companies were dissuaded from starting businesses at the New York-New Jersey waterfront “because of the interference and harassment of the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor.”

Two years ago, New Jersey state senators voted to eliminate the Waterfront Commission, but Gov. Chris Christie vetoed the bi-partisan measure.

“We will wake up the decision makers and force them to focus on our ports,” said Kenneth Riley, ILA vice president and President of ILA Local 1422, in Charleston, South Carolina. “If we don’t stop the destruction caused by overreaching bureaucracies, America will pay an even bigger price.”