| ILWU Local 19 Works Cruise Ships
for free
Late Monday night, the
ILWU was contacted by Royal Caribbean Lines with an emergency request to
work a cruise ship destined for San Juan. There were no orders for
ILWU member to work the ship due to the lockout, but members of the
local agreed to work it anyway in order to assure passenger safety and
convenience. The cruise line was
forced to come directly to the union because members of the PMA who
normally are responsible for scheduling assistance to cruise lines were
enforcing a lockout of ILWU members.
The Royal Caribbean officials said that Stevedore Services of
America refused to discuss their crisis with them, which left the
company in a very serious crisis. The cruise company
requested 30 ILWU workers, but the local union provided 100 people to
make sure the docking and unloading occurred quickly and without
incident. The ILWU members are doing the work without any cooperation
from the Port of Seattle or SSA. The
ILWU members volunteered their services for free, and agreed that any
pay or tips we received would go to charity. ILWU Local 19 members in Seattle have committed to continuing to work any cruise ship that enters the Port of Seattle. |
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