17.02.24ILA Calls for Shutdown of US East Coast Ports

The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), AFL-CIO is calling for a shutdown of ports on the East Coast of North America and Gulf Coasts and also the March on Washington next week. ILA is the largest union of maritime workers in North America, representing upwards of 65,000 longshoremen on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, Great Lakes, major U.S. rivers, Puerto Rico and Eastern Canada.

The move aims to highlight hiring practices in some U.S. ports seeking to reduce the number of dockworkers. ILA also calls for the elimination of the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor. ''The commission's self-created system of background checks for all that work on the now largely mechanized waterfront is resulting in job shortages throughout the Port of New York and New Jersey and damaging the U.S. economy,'' the union said.