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ShareThisILA, NYSA to Give Hiring Preference to Veterans
Up to 1,000 jobs could become available at Port of NY-NJ over next five years
The International Longshoremen’s Association and the New York Shipping Association said they will give hiring preference to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans for jobs that open up in the Port of New York and New Jersey.
As many as 1,000 jobs could become available within the port over the next few years through growth, attrition and retirement, the ILA and NYSA said. The size of the port’s longshore work register is controlled by the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor.
The NYSA and ILA said their veterans-preference initiative was inspired by President Obama’s announcement in late October that some 40,000 U.S. troops would be returning from Iraq by the end of 2011.
“The ILA agrees with President Obama that veterans shouldn’t have to fight for jobs once they’ve come home from the fight overseas,” said ILA President Harold Daggett, who served in the Navy during the Vietnam conflict.
“The NYSA cannot think of a stronger, more diverse group than U.S. Veterans to join our workforce here in the Port of New York and New Jersey,” said NYSA President Joseph Curto. “Hiring these individuals who have shown their discipline and dedication to our country is good business. These returning soldiers have the training and skills that will make them assets to our waterfront industry.”
NYSA and the ILA plan to reach out to Veteran’s Groups, members of Congress and port leaders to determine how best to identify returning veterans and put them to work as soon as the longshore register is opened.
The ILA represents some 3,500 waterfront workers in the port. The NYSA represents 48 companies whose members employ ILA labor.
-- Contact Joseph Bonney at jbonney@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @josephbonney.
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What an outrageous, discriminatory and emotional argument posed by daggett and curto. Their argument is weaker than a tea bag in the Mississippi River.
Veterans have jobs, when they return from deployment; they are still employed. When they choose to leave the service permanently, they are in fact voluntarily selecting unemployment. At this stage, the veteran should have to compete with the existing civilian workforce. The best candidates from the total unemployed population should be selected.
Why should millions of already unemployed citizens that did not choose to be unemployed be skipped over? Can daggett and curto explain/justify this to the unemployed civilian workforce?