Security measure on docks protested
Published 9:00 pm Friday, April 21, 2006
LOS ANGELES – Cargo industry officials are worried that a federal ID system aimed at boosting security could cost many port workers their jobs and bottle up the flow of goods destined for virtually every U.S. community.
Details of the program – more than three years in the making – are still being worked out. But according to industry officials who have discussed it with the Transportation Security Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard, illegal immigrants and people convicted of certain crimes would be barred from positions they now hold.
At ports, that could mean thousands of people would be out of jobs, including dockworkers and truck drivers.
“Of course there are concerns,” said Chuck Carroll, executive director of the National Association of Waterfront Employers, a trade group for terminal operators. “You’d have the same number of boxes but fewer people to move them, and that could mean major congestion.”
Steve Stallone, spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, said a conviction shouldn’t automatically preclude someone from working on the docks.
“Just because a guy got into a bar fight does not make him a terrorist,” said Stallone, whose union represents nearly 14,000 West Coast longshoremen and clerks. “Terrorist acts are one thing. But that you beat up your next-door neighbor? I don’t think so.”
The issue in question is the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program, a security measure that seeks to better control access to harbors, rail yards, airports and other cargo transit areas that terrorists might target. It could affect as many as 6 million people.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the federal government has spent billions of dollars increasing airport security. But much less has been done at ports.
Only a small percentage of cargo is inspected, and many workers undergo little or no scrutiny.
