ILA to vote on local contract in Hampton Roads

   Members of the International Longshoremen’s Association will vote today, Aug. 30, on a new local contract.
   While union members have continued to work and are covered by the coast-wide master contract approved by the ILA in April, they twice rejected a local pact.
   Two weeks ago, the ILA President Harold J. Daggett traveled to Hampton Roads and met with local members and the union leadership and held additional bargaining talks with the Hampton Roads Shipping Association to negotiate a revised local contract.
   In an Aug. 21 letter posted on the union’s Facebook page, Daggett urges ratification of the new contract, saying it includes several “advancements” including cross-training of straddle carrier operators and shuttle truck drivers, “elimination of employer’s ability to manipulate the ordering of gangs for rail and housekeeping work, elimination of undesirable contract language in regard to lashers,” uniforms for maintenance and repair workers, and restoration of Thursday paydays.
   The ILA leadership also met with longshoremen in Baltimore to try and work out a new contract. – Chris Dupin