Evergreen America Corporation today withdrew the charges against the
International Longshoremen¹s Association that were pending before the
National Labor Relations Board.
The charges challenged the legality of a strike staged by Evergreen America
port captains, whose decision to join the union is being challenged in
United States Court of Appeals by the company. The company contends that the
port captains are managers ineligible for ILA representation.
The ILA honored the port captains work stoppage, effectively halting the
movement of all cargo to and from Evergreen Marine Corporation¹s
containerships calling at East Coast ports. More than a dozen ships and
thousands of containers of undelivered cargo from the largest to smallest
shippers have been affected by this labor action.
The decision by Evergreen America was based on ³the overwhelming need to
get cargo moving and put an end to this crippling work stoppage,² according
to company spokesperson Barbara Spector Yeninas.
³We have every expectation that this will result in meeting with the ILA at
the bargaining table and an immediate resumption of service,² she said. ³We
have ships steaming towards
various ports right now to effect the cargo
movement as soon as possible.²
The strike began in Port Elizabeth at Maher Terminals in the port of New
York/New Jersey on May 14. By the following week it had spread to Norfolk,
Baltimore and sporadically in Charleston, Savannah and Port Everglades.