Philly Port Workers Union Pushed for Safety Precautions

Since mid-March, International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1291, representing thousands of workers who load and unload ships in the Port of Philadelphia, repeatedly called for better safety precautions.

After Company responses fell short, the union was forced to increase its pressure. In April, Local 1291 told the Ports of Delaware River Marine Trade Association (PMTA) that it would tell its members it was not safe to come to work if it did not institute COVID19 symptom monitoring, according to Willig, Williams & Davidson Partner Nan Lassen, the union’s lawyer.

Longshoremen have the individual right to decide not to work on any given day. But it’s also not considered a strike under federal labor law if workers collectively stop work in the face of “abnormally dangerous conditions,” which could serve as a form of protection for workers who withhold their labor during the coronavirus crisis, Lassen said.

Symptom monitoring was negotiated by ILA and implemented shortly after Local 1291 took a stand. The longshoremen are yet another example of workers deemed essential during the pandemic who have said their employers are not doing enough to keep them safe on the job, and demanded better protections.

Read Juliana Feliciano Reyes’s full article in the Philadelphia Inquirer.