Leif Carl of Local 19 (left) and his brother Silas, a Local 19 casual, load supplies headed for San Antonio, Texas. Photo by: Amber Trillo

By John Showalter

ome 1,500 longshore workers in the Gulf Coast region, members of the International Longshoremen’s Association, have been adversely affected by Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans Local 3000 is bearing the heaviest burden, along with locals in Mobile, Alabama, and Pascagoula and Gulfport, Mississippi also affected.

At a Sept. 14 emergency gathering of North Atlantic, South Atlantic and Gulf District ILA locals in Houston, the ILA International decided to reallocate $1 million in general funds for relief of longshore workers and their families affected by the hurricane and challenged every ILA local to give at least $1,000 out-of-pocket to the relief effort. The ILA North Atlantic District has given $500,000 and the South Atlantic District has given $200,000 towards immediate relief.

ILA Charleston Local 1422 President Ken Riley, who attended the Houston meeting, spoke with The Dispatcher upon his return home. Riley said Local 3000 has temporarily relocated its office and hiring hall to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The local’s president, James Campbell, told Riley that longshore workers are only working in partial capacity at the Port of New Orleans. Most members—having lost their homes—are living in military ships docked at the port. Campbell also said that his local members, like many stranded in New Orleans after the hurricane and subsequent flood, didn’t know where their neighbors, family and union brothers and sisters were in the days after the disaster.

The New Orleans local is having problems getting checks to its pensioners and accurately recording members’ time worked. Only 60 percent of Local 3000 pensioners have direct deposit. ILA General Vice President Benny Holland, Jr. reported that Local 3000 is crediting New Orleans’ longshore workers whose work was disrupted with the minimum work hours to qualify for welfare and benefits.

ILA presidents and secretaries meeting in Houston made it an immediate goal to get weekly checks for $500 into the hands of every, identified, affected local member for the next three weeks. Many other ILA locals—like ILWU locals—are coordinating their relief donations with local Black churches or giving between $10,000-25,000 to the ILA’s Katrina Fund. For instance, in Charleston, ILA Local 1422 gave $1,000 worth of bottled water to a local congregation’s relief drive, and Savannah ILA Local 1414 gave $25,000 towards the fund.

Other nearby ports have absorbed some longshore workers from the New Orleans. The ports of Galveston, Houston, Baton Rouge, Pascagoula and Gulfport—all targets for goods delivery in New Orleans’ absence—hired approximately 100 Local 3000 members.