30,000 Dockers Strike 11 Ports Along East Coast

About 30,000 dockworkers struck 11 ports from Maine to Virginia on Wednesday, forcing office workers to help unload a cruise liner in New York and sparking vandalism at a New Jersey cargo center.

The walkout began after the expiration of a three-year contract. At issue was a demand by some ports for a two-tier wage system based on the type of cargo handled.

“I hope it will be over tomorrow,” said Thomas W. Gleason, president of the International Longshoremen’s Assn. “I don’t like to see a strike.”

Gleason said he was scheduled to meet today in Arlington, Va., with the Council of North Atlantic Shipping Assns., representing Hampton Roads, Va., Baltimore, Philadelphia and Providence, R.I.

‘Irreparable Harm’

Greg Storey, spokesman for the New York Shipping Assn., representing the ports of New York and Boston, said no talks were planned with his group.

Stephen Berger, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said the walkout would cause “irreparable harm to our regional economy” and to an industry that generates nearly 200,000 jobs and $14 billion annually.

Robert Calder, executive director of the Boston Shipping Assn., said he feared long-term effects. “Once a traffic pattern that circumvents a port that’s on strike gets under way . . . you rarely get that cargo back,” he said.

Ships could go to Canada or to southern U.S. ports. The expired contract covered 36 ports from Maine to Texas, but locals in southern Atlantic and Gulf ports agreed not to strike immediately. Great Lakes and West Coast ports also were not affected.

Trucks Disabled

Tempers flared at Port Newark-Elizabeth, N.J., when about 150 pickets blocked the gate to a cargo area. “Nothing in, nothing out,” they shouted.

Pickets halted two trucks by cutting their brake hoses, and police officers had to escort the drivers out. Strikers also threw bottles, smashing a truck’s windshield and headlights. No arrests were reported, but five people were injured.

Office and management personnel for ITO, the company that operates the New York passenger ship terminal, took on stevedores’ roles when the Stella Solaris and its 450 passengers arrived after an 11-day cruise.

“We worked with crew members to take in lines and dock the ship, and then office personnel got the gangway. A vice president was handling a crane to get the gangway down,” said Dick Rausch, ITO vice president.