Longshoremen sue Hapag-Lloyd, the USMX group
The union issued a lawsuit for $200 million in breach of master contract with Hapag-Lloyd and USMX.
NORTH BERGEN — The United States East Coast is the scene for another bruising encounter between a dockworker union.
The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) filed a state lawsuit against both Hapag-Lloyd AG and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) in the New Jersey Superior Court in Newark.
“The lawsuit alleges that the defendants are liable for tortious interference with a contractual relationship, tortious interference with advantageous business advantage, breach of contract, and civil conspiracy,” notes a press statement from ILA. “The ILA is seeking damages in the amount of $200,000,000 from both defendants individually or jointly.”
“The lawsuit arises out of the USMX’s and Hapag-Lloyd’s attempts to interfere with and undermine the coast-wide Master Contract that the ILA has with its employers from Maine to Texas,” notes the press statement.
The “defendants willfully violated the work jurisdiction provisions of the Master Contract, when Hapag-Lloyd elected to bring its container vessel to the Leatherman Terminal on April 9, 2021, as workers not covered by the Master Contract were hired to perform crane and terminal work unloading containers and handling containers from Hapag-Lloyd’s ship which historically has been performed by longshoremen and all other ILA crafts on a coast wise basis,” notes the lawsuit.
