Longshore Workers’ Coalition News Update
February 5, 2010
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ILA AGREES TO AUTOMATED TERMINAL IN JACKSONVILLE
According to media reports, officials of Hanjin Shipping and the ILA tentatively agreed on a contract establishing staffing levels for a highly automated container terminal Hanjin plans to open in Jacksonville, Florida, in 2013.
The Jacksonville Business Journal […]

Companies are not sitting around waiting for a strike or a natural disaster to delay their cargo. They are investing today to protect their profit tomorrow.
Port development and expansion – Employers like A.P. Moeller-Maersk are building massive new terminals and using huge tax incentives to expand the number of places where they can unload cargo […]

High cost, technological problems and the possibility of disqualifying good workers have derailed the start of Transportation Worker Identification Card (TWIC) program.
The TWIC is a national ID card to control access to the ports and other transportation facilities in the name of fighting terrorism. The card could cover up to 12 million transportation workers, who […]

The dreaded shape-up has come back in a new form in the Port of NY-NJ. Union members in most ports the world over ended the practice that forced waterfront workers to fight each other for work. But now a series of changes in NY-NJ have brought back the insecurity and corruption of days past.
Other ports […]

In Baltimore and other ports, employers require our drivers to operate close to a continuous beam of radioactivity. Can this be safe?
The Mobile VACIS (Vehicle and Cargo Inspection System) is designed to find the unusual in a container. Workers drive their trucks through the machine and, they are assured, the beam only starts working once […]

After several years of debate, the government approved the Transportation Worker Identification Card (TWIC). They will start with longshore workers this year. It is unclear who will have to pay for the card and the licensing process. Unless the ILA demands that the employers pay, the rank and file may have to pay $150 for […]

A.P. Moller Mearsk/APM terminals will open a state of the art facility in the port of Hampton Roads-Newport News-Norfolk, VA. The terminal will run with rail mounted gantry cranes that operate by computer replacing longshore work.

As the LWC said they would, several employers have been meeting with checkers’ locals to push for job elimination. The employers argue that the labor saving technology that the ILA allowed in the last contract has eliminated jobs. Checkers must now try to organize work the ILA lost years ago and organize new work such […]