Union plans protest over cruise pier closure

Union plans protest over cruise pier closure The International Longshoremen’s Association Local 824 said it would hold a rally Saturday to protest a decision to close Pier 92 on Manhattan’s West Side as a cruise terminal.
   The union said New York City’s Economic Development Commission intends to use Pier 92 exclusively for trade shows, a move that the ILA said “violates the government’s responsibility safeguarding the city’s resources, namely the Hudson River and the Harbor.
   “For more than 300 years, Manhattan has boasted a working waterfront including the sailings of majestic cruise ships into and out of Manhattan’s West Side Piers,” said John Bowers, president emeritus of the ILA, who also serves as president of Local 824, whose members have handled cruise ships at Manhattan’s Piers 88, 90 and 92 for decades. “Now our short-sighted New York City officials want to permanently shut down Pier 92 to this growing cruise trade and limit availability of the remaining two passenger ships terminals.
   “We have to take our case to the streets and let the public know that we’re in jeopardy of losing something very special,” Bowers said.