Firm at Port in Hot Water Over Lawsuit

Federal labor officials said Tuesday they will take action against a scrap metal terminal in the Port of Los Angeles for allegedly filing a frivolous lawsuit against dock workers who participated in a bitter labor dispute with the company two years ago.

The move by the National Labor Relations Board coincides with a federal court ruling in December that ordered Hugo Neu-Proler Co.’s attorney to pay more than $50,000 for bringing a groundless racketeering case against the International Longshore & Warehouse Union.

Dock workers picketed the company in January 1997, claiming Hugo Neu-Proler was violating its labor contract. A few months later, the scrap metal company filed a federal lawsuit, alleging it was coerced into hiring union members who did little or no work.

A federal judge dismissed the case in August, concluding there was no evidence that the union had acted unlawfully.

Peter Tovar, a deputy regional attorney for the NLRB in Los Angeles, said the agency has authorized a complaint against Hugo Neu-Proler, but the board will try to settle the matter without resorting to the formal complaint process.

“The regional office has made an administrative finding that there was a retaliatory motive for the lawsuit,” Tovar said. “The case appears to have no basis in law or fact.”

Mark R. Thierman, an attorney for Hugo Neu-Proler, denied Tuesday that the lawsuit against the union was meritless. He also said he will appeal a ruling by U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins ordering him to pay $51,072 of the union’s legal fees.

In the Hugo Neu-Proler case, Thierman alleged that the scrap terminal was paying at least $1 million a year in wages to “ghost workers” or superfluous union members who had little to do at the facility.

“This was like the 1940s,” Thierman said. “We were paying money to people who didn’t even show up for work. We tried not to pay, and the union shut down the port for several days.”

Thierman said the work at the terminal was already being handled by warehouse workers from Local 26 of the longshore union. Workers from Locals 13 and 63 were totally unnecessary, he alleged.

Union officials said longshore workers picketed Hugo Neu-Proler because the company would not honor its contract obligations to have members of Local 13 and 63 load ships.

Union officials said the company eventually locked dock workers out of the terminal when they protested the shortening of their lunch breaks in apparent violation of the contract. The workers returned only after a federal court ruling in their favor.