International Longshoremen's Association Local 1588

A delegation of 17 members of Local 1588 joined up with Longshoremen from five other ports to protest outside an ILA Executive Board meeting in Washington, D.C on August 26. Local 1588 had received reports that the Executive Board was going to vote on a tentative backroom master contract deal that gives away the October 1, 2009 raise in the current contract and fails to address many other serious issues still on the table. In all, 55 longshoremen joined the protest over the course of the morning.

As a result of the protest and an internal fight on the executive board, ILA President Richard Hughes adjourned the Executive Board meeting after 15 minutes. The protest made it clear that Longshoremen will insist that any agreement be properly negotiated and address the concerns of the membership.

Wage scale delegates have been called to an emergency meeting in Orlando on August 31 through September 4.

Members will soon be able to apply for loans against your NYSA-ILA annuity (Money Purchase Plan) under certain circumstances. The plan, which has yet to be finalized and formally announced, was discussed at NY/NJ District Council meeting in June. Below are the tentative details released in a draft of a letter to ILA members that will be sent when the terms and start date are finalized:

Loans will be available for the following reasons:

The Waterfront Commission has temporarily relaxed the 15 Day Rule for the period July 1, 2009 - December 31, 2009. For that six month period, Longsohoremen are required to work or be available 8 days per month.

The change comes after Local 1588 and the ILA New York/New Jersey District Council requested a modification of the rule due to the sharp decline in work hours in the port. The burdensome 15 day rule punishes longshore workers trying to hold down a second job in a tough economy, forcing them under threat of decasualization (loss of your pass), to be available for work even if there's none to be had.

Longshoremen who worked as Assistant Foremen or Rampmen at Ceres received back wages as a result of a Local 1588 grievance filed after Ceres unilaterally eliminated a $1.50 differential and cut line–pay. The grievance reached the arbitration stage after first deadlocking before the ILA and NYSA Labor Adjusters and at the Contract Board. It was only the second grievance to reach an arbitrator in years.

A third grievance, over Ceres’s failure to pay a differential to the third Foreperson was denied by an arbitrator.

In April, 2008, Ceres signed an agreement to hire an additional Foreman and Assistant Foremen. The agreement came after a series of meetings in which Local 1588 and Mechanics Local 1804-1 jointly protested that non-bargaining unit employees were doing Longshoremen’s work. Ceres also agreed to increase guaranteed hours for all assistant foremen from 8 per week to 12 per week plus ship time, to provide shelter by the ship, set up a text and email procedure for taking yourself out of the system, and other improvements.

The union presented it's arguments on the Pin Man grievance at a hearing Wednesday, June 17 in front of the NYSA-ILA Labor Adjusters and the company.

The Union argued that the lack of a Pin Man is safety and jurisdictional violation of the contract.

Members wore "United for Pin Man" buttons to show support for the grievance. An overwhelming majority of members have signed petitions in support of Pin Man.

Rank and file operators told the Labor Adjusters and the company about tthe difficulties of working without a properly trained groundman:

• Trucks drivers pull away with the box still hooked up to the spreader,
• Truck drivers back up underneath the box and park improperly on the pads to receive the boxes
• Truck drivers try to outrace machines through the intersection
• Untrained drivers give confusing, erratic, and unclear signals to operators, and wander dangerously into the stacks.

“An operator 80 feet from the ground might be taking directions from a truck driver who is on his first day of work,” said Anthony Falcicchio.