Longshore Rank and Filers Sue To Annul Contract Vote
Rank-and-file members of the International Longshoremen’s Association filed suit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on July 14 requesting that their contract vote be annulled. The contract covers 15,000 dockworkers from Maine to Texas.
Dissident members say that the union did not follow election rules as spelled out in its constitution. They also claim that ILA leaders violated rights to fair representation provided for under the Landrum-Griffin Act. If the lawsuit is successful, the court can order the contract approval vote thrown out. The contract, which has already been signed by the employer and the union, is set to go into effect October 1.
The charges come after an organized vote-no campaign by ILA members against a contract that heightened the disparity between wage and benefit tiers. According to the ILA, the contract passed by 56 percent, although in response to a letter from the dissidents they revised the vote tally from 5,084-3,920 to 4,873-3,886.
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Members allege that the ILA denied the entire port of Jacksonville—covering 1,000 workers—a right to vote. In ports such as Houston and Lake Charles, Louisiana, members did not receive proper notice or information about their vote. In New Jersey, where over 1,400 workers voted, reports of intimidation and rigging marred the vote.
Meanwhile, ILA International Vice President and Southern Region President Arthur Coffey was arrested by the FBI for extortion and labor racketeering. According to the Miami Herald, he is charged with using extortion to guarantee that a Genovese crime family-backed candidate won top positions in the International, and with conspiring to defraud pension and benefit funds in Miami and throughout the East Coast and South, all since 1998.
Coffey’s attorney said in his defense, ‘’Years ago there might have been a connection between labor and organized crime, but that’s long gone…If there’s anything, it’s just a form of camaraderie and socializing more than business relationships…They’re not really actively engaged in any racketeering at this point.’’
On July 16 the New York Post reported that prosecutors in the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney’s Office were preparing a massive civil racketeering case against the union. Rumors that the government would file charges against the ILA under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act have been circulating for some time now.
