DOCK STRIKE IN U.S.

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27213, 3 December 1953, Page 11

DOCK STRIKE IN U.S.

New York Piers Idle

(Rec. 11 p.m.) NEW YORK, Dec. 1. Stoppages by dock workers, angry over the new two-state waterfront control law, spread almost throughout the port of New York today. The New York Shipping Association, whose members employ dock workers, said the strike had tied up practically the entire port. The association’s spokesman said the strike was almost general, not only on the New’ York piers, but on most of those on the other side of the Hudson river in New Jersey. The police already had been warned that a general strike might start within hours. The strikers were trying to force the New York and New Jersey Waterfront Commission to reinstate, at least temporarily, on the piers scores of dock workers who have been barred because of criminal records. About 255 dock workers have been ordered off the docks by the commission because of their criminal backgrounds. , Other work licences have been held up while dock workers’ pasts are checked. , ... All blackballed dock workers will have a chance to clear themselves at future public hearings Mr William Bradley, president of the independent International Longshoremen’s Association, said the union wants the commission to grant temporary work permits to blackballed longshoremen until they actually obtain the hearings.