Taiwanese seniority at issue in Evergreen-ILA impasse

NORTH America's east coast dockers union, the International Longshoremen's Association, and Evergreen Shipping Agency (America) are at odds over how to rate the seniority of Taiwanese clerks seconded to the New Jersey office.

That, and the prospect of layoffs among the 115 clerks, at the agency has put management and the union in a situation that might trigger a strike, though the union would only say that it is "considering its options".

ILA local president Robert Levy said the impasse centres on the seniority of 13 Taiwanese clerks working in the US on visas, report's Newark's Journal of Commerce. Evergreen wants their seniority in Taiwan counted while ILA does not.

Taiwanese shipping giant Evergreen has imposed layoffs and a salary freeze on non-union workers to cope with what it expects to be a US$23 million loss for the company's US shipping agency this year.

(Source: www.schednet.com)