Diversity of recent hires belies charges of discrimination, says ILA union and its employers.
The International Longshoremen’s Association and two groups
representing their employers — the New York Shipping Association and
Metropolitan Marine Maintenance Contractors’ Association — are appealing
a decision last month by a U.S. District Court judge that dismissed
their complaint against the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor.
Announcing their appeal, the three organizations repeated their claim
in the original complaint that that the commission was overstepping its
statutory authority in imposing requirements it believes are needed to
ensure hiring is fair and non-discriminatory. John Nardi, the president and chief executive officer of NYSA, said the appeal has not yet been filed, but expects it will be by the end of September. He said the appeal could be could be filed up to 60 days from Aug. 27.
“The ILA asserts that the Waterfront Commission has no business
interfering in collective bargaining agreements the ILA has with its
employer groups. The ILA will use all available resources and legal
means to deny the Waterfront Commission from overreaching its statutory
authority,” said Harold J. Daggett, president of the ILA.
Nardi said a recruitment-and-hiring plan
announced last year as part of their contract agreement calls for
employment of hundreds of military veterans and “further enhances the
diversity of the longshore industry’s workforce.”
Nardi explained, “The current demographics of the new hires under
that plan reflect a real cross-section of our community. More than 60
percent of the 423 newly hired individuals are minorities; and 51
percent of the individuals employed by the industry will be military
veterans, with the balance consisting of referrals from NYSA, its
employer members, and the ILA.”
He continued, “As can be seen from the diversity achieved by the
industry’s recruitment-and-hiring plan, that action is not about the
industry’s purported ‘attempts to institutionalize discrimination
through collective bargaining’ as the Waterfront Commission has
asserted. Instead, the action is about curtailing the Waterfront
Commission’s misuse of its limited statutory authority. The appeal will
seek to resolve the overarching legal issues relating to the extent of
the Waterfront Commission’s statutory authority and whether it is
permitted to run roughshod over the industry’s collective-bargaining
rights, even though those rights are expressly protected by the very
compact that created the Waterfront Commission.”
James R. Mara, president of MMMCA, whose group bargains with ILA
mechanics and maintenance workers, said, “We are troubled by the
Waterfront Commission’s continued interference into our federally
protected collective bargaining rights and their misuse of the authority
given to them under the Waterfront Commission Compact which has had a
negative impact on port commerce. We firmly believe that an appellate
court will share our concerns and we trust that it will be for the
betterment of the economies of New York and New Jersey. “
ILA, employers appealing decision in favor of NY Waterfront Commission
