More Than 1,000 Longshoremen Walk Off The Job At Area Ports

Longshoremen walk off job in New Jersey and New York on Jan. 29, 2016 (credit: CBS2) 

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – More than 1,000 longshoremen have walked off the job at area ports.

Overseas shipments are stuck at ports in New York City, Elizabeth, Newark and Jersey City. The ports handle a total of 3.3 million containers a year, WCBS 880’s Peter Haskell reported.

The Port Authority has closed the terminals to incoming trucks, causing heavy traffic backups. Click here to check current conditions.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/01/29/longshoreman-job-action/

View video on the above link

One truck driver was able to get into the Bayonne port, but then he wasn’t allowed out, Haskell reported.

“The ILA and the New York Shipping Association – our employers, it’s not just the workers, but also the owners of the companies that generate the jobs and generates money for the economy, both sides have been fighting the Waterfront Commission, especially in the last five years, over the right to bring new workers on, the right to operate their ports the way they think they should be operated,” Jim McNamara of the International Longshoreman’s Association told 1010 WINS. “They’ve had enough, they told me they’re taking this action to demonstrate their displeasure.”

There is an apparent labor walk off at all PONYNJ terminals. No truck operations at this time. All efforts to resume activity will be under

— The Port of NY & NJ (@PortNYNJ) January 29, 2016

Due to the current work stoppage in the port, no new trucks will be allowed to queue on port roadways. Do not send trucks the Port at this t

— The Port of NY & NJ (@PortNYNJ) January 29, 2016

The dispute between the longshoremen and the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor has been ongoing for some time.

“The Waterfront Commission continues to interfere with both management and labor,” McNamara said.

Meanwhile the Port Authority urged workers to return to the ports.

“As the agency that oversees the largest port complex on the East Coast, we strongly urge the ILA members to return to work immediately and resolve their differences after they return,” the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said in a statement. “In the meantime, Port Authority Police are actively working to ensure public safety for all of the stakeholders at the port.”

Shame blokes at English docks don't stick together.

We can't,Government took the right to strike off us and give more power to the employers to finish anyone who does.