Longshoremen claim sex discrimination, abuse of seniority system

Longshoremen unload Mexican steel from a ship at the Port of Houston Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018, in Houston. Longshoremen unload Mexican steel from a ship at the Port of Houston Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018, in Houston. Photo: Steve Gonzales / Steve Gonzales / Staff Photographer Photo: Steve Gonzales / Steve Gonzales / Staff Photographer Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Longshoremen claim sex discrimination, abuse of seniority system 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A group of local longshoremen briefly stopped working on Tuesday after accusing a shipping company of discriminating against female workers by forcing their male colleagues with more seniority to do their jobs.

The dispute between the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 21 and James J. Flanagan Stevedores remains even after work was resumed around noon, local president Walter Mullens said.

He accused Flanagan supervisors of refusing to allow women onto the ships it is under contract to unload. He said that can force workers with seniority to take on harder work while qualified female workers are given easier duties, upsetting the seniority system much of the union is built on.

“The issue has been the interpretation of ‘work as directed,’” Mullens said. “We believe it means supervision can tell a person assigned to a job where and how to do that job, but their interpretation is being able to take the oldest person on the job and make them do the hardest job under the contract.”

Mullens said it’s not just male members with seniority who feel they are working under objectionable conditions.

“A lot of our women are upset about this,” he said. “They aren’t going down there looking for a freebie. They go shoulder to shoulder with our men and do their duty like anyone else.”

He said the union has had a considerable number of women since the early 1990s.

James J. Flanagan Stevedores denied any discrimination against female workers. Christina Crawford, speaking for company owner Tom Ferguson, said the issue is not gender but finding the best qualified workers for particular jobs.

“Our contract with International Longshoreman’s Association gives the employer the right to direct work as necessary and to place workers at our discretion,” the company said in a statement.

The company also accused the ILA of violating its work contract by “refusing to work as directed” and by ignoring a clause that prohibits strikes. It cited safety as its top priority.

Although locals operate autonomously, the president of the ILA’s South Atlantic and Gulf Coast District, which covers workers from Brownsville to Morehead City, North Carolina, agreed to meet with Ferguson.

District president Allen Rob acknowledged that seniority rules have complicated operations for ports across the county.

“The maritime business is very cyclical; one day you may need three people and the next you need 103,” Rob said. “Collectively, we are faced with keeping a skilled workforce on call and ready to go that are productive, qualified and certified. Because workers with seniority get the first pick for jobs, they may have to leave for a contract that pays more and a new worker comes onto the bulkhead job halfway through.”

Rob said talks could quickly be arranged between the local chapter and the company to hammer out a contract that will better define the question of “work as directed” and make sure the company receives consistent and qualified workers when they were needed.

Regardless of any compromise made on certain aspects of the supervision or seniority system, Rob said the union would not condone any gender discrimination.

“In our opinion, we want to supply qualified, skilled people based on their qualification and not their gender,” he said. “If what we need to do is come up with a qualifying criteria for all individuals, that’s what we need to do but it can’t be gender based.”

jacob.dick@beaumontenterprise.com

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