'Low-show' US$400,000-a-year dockers raise ire of NY-NJ employers
2012 03 20
- Details
DOCKERS earning US$300,000 a year, and some $400,000, for supposedly 24/7 service when they hardly show up at all is angering both the port officials and New York Shipping Association member companies that must pay them.
Patrick Foye, executive director for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is wading through cases of "low-show" jobs at shipping terminals. "Payment of certain select people for 24 hours of work seven days a week when in fact they only work a few hours is wrong," Mr Foye said.
"The port authority has invested billions in the transportation infrastructure in the region, including billions in the region's ports, and is being asked to invest billions more. But before the industry can, issues of low-show jobs where certain selected members are paid 24-7 for a few hours of work have to be addressed," Mr Foye said.
"If the container terminals are claiming that business is tough and that it is hard to remain competitive with other ports, it's hard to justify that in terms of certain select members are being paid 24-7 for a few hours of work - low-show jobs is what I call that," Mr Foye told American Shipper.
Responding Jim McNamara, a spokesman for the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), said the port authority has nothing to do with the negotiations between the union and United States Maritime Alliance and the New York Shipping Association.
NYSA president Joe Curto, representing employers said: "Any of the work practices have been known to us for some time and we can no longer defend the indefensible."
The Waterfront Commission, which fights crime in the port, held hearings in 2010 to examine what it said were featherbedding practices where some longshoremen are paid around the clock even if they do not show up.
Waterfront Commission executive director Walter Arsenault protested that there are 285 longshoremen who make more than $300,000 a year and several that make more than $400,000 a year.
Mr Foye's demands come as management and the International Longshoremen's Association, which represents dock workers in New York and up and down the east and gulf coasts, are scheduled to begin negotiations on a new contract to replace the current agreement that expires on September 30.
Source Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
.jpg)
The magazine SEA has been published since 1935
International business magazine JŪRA MOPE SEA has been published since 1999
The first magazine in Eurasia in the four languages: English, Chinese, Russian and Lithuanian
|
|