Labor win could force South Carolina port workers to join union

 While South Carolina is a right-to-work state, a pending ruling could force some workers at a new port to join the union.

The fight centers on the International Longshoremen’s Association’s "secondary boycott" of the Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal in North Charleston. In December, the NLRB reversed an administrative law judge’s ruling that the boycott barring carriers from using the terminal until union members handle all container work at the port was unlawful.

The National Right to Work Foundation and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican, joined the call for a federal appeals court to overturn the boycott. The court should hear oral arguments in the case on June 6 in Baltimore.

"It’s interesting because the right-to-work law in South Carolina, while it would grant them the right not to formally join the union, it would force them to operate under the union contract, which means the hiring hall," National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix told The Center Square. "Basically, the hiring hall determines your ability to work based on your seniority in the union.

"And so, there’s all kinds of internal conflicts that exist if … federal courts rule in favor of the NLRB ruling and in favor of the ILA against the shipping companies," Mix added.

The Leatherman terminal is governed by a master contract between the United States Maritime Association and the ILA, covering ports on the East Coast from Maine to Florida, Mix said, adding that if the union prevails, it will result in higher costs for taxpayers and consumers.

"One thing we do know is that cost increases generally get pushed down to the consumer," Mix said. "And in this case, they get pushed down to the trucking companies and the retailers and the wholesalers."

https://www.thecentersquare.com/south_carolina/article_f9bfaf00-e9fe-11ed-bd7f-93dc099c8f29.html