Port of Charleston
A dispute that came to blows over the unloading of a vessel by nonunion employees has led Ports America, the largest private terminal operator in the Americas, and stevedores serving marine shipping companies calling the Port of Charleston to sue the longshoremen’s union.
The plaintiffs, which also include the SSA Cooper stevedoring firm, asked the court for a temporary restraining order to put the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1422 back to work after union stevedores walked off the job at the S.C. State Ports Authority’s Columbus Street terminal in protest of another ship that was being unloaded by nonunion workers. The order would also prevent ILA from impeding the work of nonunion dock workers.