Sept. 17, 2002

ILWU calls for safety on the docks

            While employers of the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) whine incessantly in the press about productivity at West Coast ports and warn of slow downs, they never say a word about safety in one of the most dangerous industries in the country. In the last six months there have been five fatalities among International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) waterfront workers, each more horrific than the last.

            On March 14 foreman John Prohoroff of ILWU Local 94 was routinely preparing a ship to be worked at SSA’s Long Beach terminal. The line on one of the ship’s cranes broke, dropping a 3,000-pound metal ring 30 feet and hitting Prohoroff. He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

            The following day, March 15, Mario Gonzalez, a member of ILWU Local 26, was operating a huge mill that shreds cars into scrap metal at Hugo Neu-Pr ole r’s facility at the Port of Los Angeles . The machine jammed and Gonzalez went in to fix it. But the hydraulic-powered, several-ton door closed on his chest, killing him.

            On June 1 ILWU Local 14 member Dick Peters was checking the hatches of a ship being loaded in the Port of Eureka . No one saw what happened, but apparently the ship-board gantry crane swung and crushed Peters against the ship itself.

            On July 23 Richie Lopez, Jr. of ILWU Local 46 in Port Hueneme was run over by a heavy forklift. And on Sept. 3 ILWU Local 26 watchman Rudy Acosta was run over and killed by a top handler at the Pacific Container Terminal operated by SSA in Long Beach.

            “PMA’s constant push for more productivity is making a bad problem even worse,” said ILWU International President Jim Spinosa. “The docks are already dangerously congested, but during these negotiations several terminal operators tried to raise their posted speed limits from 10 or 15 miles an hour to 25. But even with safe limits posted, none of the equipment we are given to drive have speedometers. Accidents occur all too often and that is why one of the demands we have on the table in these negotiations is to have speedometers put in all the power industrial trucks on the docks.”

            According to PMA’s own Injury/Illness Analysis Report, there were 6,719 on the job injuries on the West Coast in the less than three-year period between July 1, 1999 and May 22, 2002 . To literally add insult to injury, many PMA employers regularly deny compensation coverage under the Longshore and Harbor Workers Act, a practice known as controverting claims. While there are no statistics for the entire West Coast on such controversions, the Dept. of Labor did a review of those claims at the Port of Long Beach , the second largest port in the country, and found that out of the pending injury claims there, 36 percent were being controverted.

            Longshore workers are also regularly exposed to hazardous and toxic cargoes, often without their knowledge or proper protection. The cumulative effects of these exposures, as well as the pervasive diesel particulates, cause long-term illnesses that often do not show up for years but result in reduced quality of life, shortened life spans and higher medical costs.

            “It’s way past time our employers start taking our health and safety concerns seriously,” said ILWU International President James Spinosa. “It’s bad enough when accidents happen, but they should not be opposing safety regulations or attempts to minimize hazardous exposures. And when someone does get hurt, their welfare, and not the company’s costs, should be the top priority.”

For more information contact ILWU Communications Director Steve Stallone at 415-775-0533 (office) or 510-390-4748 (cell) or visit www.ilwu.org.

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