Port of New York braces for possible strike

Port of New York braces for possible strike    Port of New York and New Jersey terminal operators are hoping to avoid a demonstration or strike by members of the International Longshoremen's Association on Monday.
   Reportedly tensions have flared up because Metropolitan Marine Maintenance Contractors Association (Metro) has not signed a contract reached in December with ILA Locals 1804-1 and 1814 whose members do equipment inspection and maintenance.
   Jim Devine, chief executive officer of Global Container Terminals USA, which operates the New York Container Terminal on Staten Island and the Global Terminal in Bayonne, said Friday morning there are concerns about the legal rights of terminals and the ILA to inspect equipment that belongs not to steamship lines or their chassis pools, but to trucking companies.

Devine

   'There is a time to sit back and look at this carefully and see what can be crafted that is mindful of the legitimate issues of safety of vehicles on the road. Truckers have a first line responsibility to make sure the rigs they are driving are safe. Whether there is a role for the terminals to augment that is what we need to better understand.'
   Many shipping companies are getting out of the chassis business and no longer providing chassis to draymen as a matter of course. Truckers are having to buy or lease chassis from pools.
   A spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said the ILA had obtained permits for a demonstration on Monday.
   At the same time, there are reports that those permits might not be used and a settlement would be reached. ' Chris Dupin