NEWARK -- Mayor Ras Baraka today called for a federal investigation of the two longshoremen unions at the Port of Newark and Elizabeth, claiming they have disproportionately fewer black and Hispanic members.

"Two of the unions serving the port remain strictly segregated despite years of attempts by the Waterfront Commission and Civil Rights organizations to desegregate them," Baraka said in a letter to U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez.

Baraka also asked the U.S. Attorney General to determine whether federal civil rights laws have been violated.

The mayor cited statistics that Newark and Elizabeth have a combined black and Hispanic population of 77 percent.

Yet, he said, International Longshoremen's Locals 1 and 1804-1, which represent checkers and mechanics respectively, have fewer than 6 percent black members, under 13 percent Hispanic members and no women among their more than 1,000 total members.

"Clearly, those hired to work at the Port are not representative of the diversity of the surrounding community," the mayor said in a statement today.

Baraka cited a 2015 report that stated that of the 3,299 registered longshore workers at the port, only 299 or 6.3 percent had Newark addresses and that of the total number of workers 2,055 are white, 787 are black, 410 are Hispanic, 17 are Asian. Only 302 of the workers are women, the mayor said, referring to the report.

He said 523 of 787 registered black workers are in one predominantly black local, number 1233.

Baraka is requesting that the labor department "remedy severe racial, gender and ethnic inequality in employment at the Port and an apparent bias against the hiring of local residents."

The federal labor department declined to comment on the mayor's letter.

Calls and messages sent to representatives of the ILA seeking comments were not immediately returned. Attempts to reach the Waterfront Commission of New York and New Jersey were unsuccessful.

Tom Haydon may be reached at thaydon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Tom_HaydonSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.