New York employers sue dockers for US$5 million for illegal strike

Time:2010-12-07 Browse:45 Author:RISINGSUN

THE New York Shipping Association (NYSA) has the International Longshoremen`s Association (ILA) for more than US$5 million for damages arising from its two-day September strikes in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia, reports Newark`s Journal of Commerce.

Picketing at New York-New Jersey was an attempt to pressure shipping lines using Packer Avenue Marine Terminal in Philadelphia to encourage Holt Logistics to continue to hire ILA dockers, rather than switching to an non-ILA terminal, employers said.


"By seeking relief of the costs incurred by our members, we hope the ILA will understand that it is in everyone`s best interest to work together in our port and not encourage actions that can only hurt us," said NYSA president Joseph Curto.


"In today`s environment of port-to-port competition and other significant economic challenges, the action by the ILA was just plain wrong," he said.


Filed in US District Court in Newark, the suit accuses the ILA of engaging in an illegal secondary boycott by inciting New York-New Jersey dockers to stop work in support of a protest against the shift of Del Monte fruit imports in the Philadelphia area to a non-ILA terminal in Gloucester City, NJ.


The strike ended after the NYSA threatened the ILA with a contempt of court order if the union did not comply with a federal judge`s restraining order, backing up an arbitrator`s declaration that the strike was illegal.


Eighteen carriers are participating in the suit, claiming the strike delayed ship operations and required terminal operators to pay extra overtime to move delayed shipments.