Cruise line returns jobs to longshoremen

June 17, 2005

DAWN DE BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - A dockside protest by stevedores in Whittier last week, which resulted in five arrests, ended when a cruise-ship company agreed to return to longshoremen the work that for the past year has been done by non-U.S. residents employed by the cruise lines, Carl Norman, president of the Alaska Longshoreman Union, said Tuesday.

Carnival Cruise Lines faxed Norman a letter earlier this week, announcing plans to allow union workers to board the ship, as is customary with other cruise lines docking where American unions are established.

Two Valley residents who commute to Whittier for longshoreman work took part in the protest, and said they were pleased that Carnival resolved the issue.

"They thought they could get away with it in Whittier. So, it had to be dealt with right here," Willow resident and local union foreman Chris Haynes said Tuesday. "If this had been allowed to continue, it would have trickled down the whole coast and the nation."

"We appreciate that longshoremen came to the table, and we were able to find an amicable agreement that made everyone happy," Jennifer de la Cruz, company spokesperson with Carnival, said Thursday.

The Miami-based company's procedure of allowing its employees to offload and onload the ship while it was docked in Whittier violated federal regulations, Haynes said, and cost longshoremen about six jobs guaranteed to them by collective-bargaining agreements.

Those jobs are protected by the Immigration and Naturalization Service code of federal regulation, which states that while a ship is docked in U.S. waters, workers who are not U.S. citizens may not assume longshore activities, he said.

Thursday, de la Cruz said it was the first time she had heard of this particular INS regulation.

The Spirit, a cruise ship that sails under a Bahaman flag, has been using Whittier's dock as a turn-around port since the 2004 season, arriving every other Wednesday. At first, union workers boarded the ship. After disagreements arose over loading operations, the company put its employees in those positions, de la Cruz said.

Haynes, along with fellow Valley resident and co-worker Ken Cox, said he joined about 80 other International Longshore and Warehouse Union members from Alaska, Canada and the West Coast in a June 8 protest to regain the half-dozen jobs the cruise line had been denying them.

The Alaska State Troopers arrested five union members, who were charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing traffic. Haiyes said the protesters weren't trying to block passengers. They just wanted the vacationers to see the protest signs and realize that the cruise-ship company has been unfair to U.S. workers, he said.

"The passengers were saying 'Good luck,' and 'Hope you get your job back.'" Haynes said.

Dawn De Busk may be reached at 352-2252, or at dawn.debusk@frontiersman.com.