News Content

Impasse continues on hiring of longshoremen on New York waterfront

ACRIMINIOUS relations between unionised dockers and the New York Waterfront Commission, the bi-state body tasked with ridding the docks of corruption has persisted over 60 years.

For decades the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and the commission have fought over hiring practices and the influence of organised crime. But both sides say their relationship has reached a new low over plans to hire hundreds more dockers to relieve congestion at the east coast's busiest port.

The Waterfront Commission controls the port's employment register - list of workers eligible to be longshoremen - and has the power to reject any who fail background checks or aren't referred for the job in accordance with fair-hiring standards.

The commission and the union are at an impasse over how to move forward with hiring, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Union members shut down the port for a day in January with a wildcat strike that union officials said was a reaction to the Waterfront Commission's "harassment".

Meanwhile, the union and the New York Shipping Association, a group that represents terminal operators, have asked federal courts to limit the commission's authority.

New Jersey's legislature is considering two bills that would effectively kill the commission. And last month, union president Harold Daggett compared the commission to Nazis in an interview with a trade publication.

Ronald Goldstock, the New York commissioner with the Waterfront Commission, said: "If he actually said that, he's losing it."

Now the strife is as bad as ever. "Communication has broken down completely," said ILA lawyer Kevin Marrinan.

An ILA spokesman said the dispute was focused on the Waterfront Commission role that was created in 1953 to combat corruption.

In what dockers and management agree is "brief creep", the Waterfront Commission now defines "corruption" to mean the traditional nepotism of waterfront hiring, as the commission seeks to have more minorities and women.

While courts have backed the commission, both management and the union are on the same side, having contractually worked out a hiring formula, which has been part of their collective agreement.