California Apparel News

Port workers may be hauling more than cargo this time next year.

The federal Department of Homeland Security has mandated that anyone who works inside the gates of the nation’s ports must carry a high-tech security card that identifies them by their fingerprints or a retinal scan.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach probably will be one of the first ocean gateways in the nation to employ the tamper-resistant security cards, called a Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC), which will cost workers $139 and last five years. Implementation should start at the end of this year.

But port workers are concerned that the mandatory cards, which have taken three years to develop, could cause more than a hole in their wallets. They may lead to a temporary labor shortage at the ports and delay offloading of cargo, some say.

“What happens if a whole gang of laborers is delayed getting into the port because of a technical breakdown?” asked Mike Mitre, a local longshoreman who is the chair of the Coast Port Security Committee of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). “Does this mean your cargo just sits on the ship?”

One issue is the reliability of the machinery used to scan the TWIC card every time a worker goes in and out through the port gates. What will happen if there is a glitch in the operating system? Will 80 dockworkers be standing around waiting for the system to go back up?

Los Angeles and Long Beach port officials are working to make sure the security card system operates smoothly and doesn’t disrupt cargo traffic or business. No one wants a repeat of 2004, when a shortage of dockworkers and railroad cars at the local port complex kept ships waiting as long as one week to get their cargo unloaded.

“As a port authority, we must make sure the implementation is effective in the port and the security objectives are met without adversely affecting the movement of cargo,” said George Cummings, director of homeland security at the Port of Los Angeles.

Port officials are working with all terminals to make sure they have the right cardreading equipment. Port engineers will be examining whether gates need to be moved or added to create a more efficient workflow, Cummings added.

“If you don’t implement regulations with good planning, you can have significant consequences,” he noted. “We will make sure the impact on the movement of goods is thought out and the implementation steps are done so we don’t have significant backups.”

But others worry that backups will occur outside the ports. Their concern is that hundreds of the 10,000 independent truckers that serve the ports won’t pass the rigid background checks. Many of those truckers are Latin American immigrants.

“The concern for us as motor carriers and truckers, especially with the driver shortage, is what happens if a person is unfairly or inaccurately denied a card,” said Patty Senecal, vice president of Transport Express, a trucking company in Rancho Dominguez, Calif. “What is the appeals process? Can they get a temporary identification for 30 to 60 days?”

Post 9/11

Port security became a top issue after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 mandated that the Transportation Security Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard set up a card system that would identify every person who was unescorted inside port gates.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach were among the nation’s first test grounds for the TWIC card, as well as Philadelphia, Wilmington, Del., and all Florida ports.

Public hearings on the TWIC card have been held around the nation. The last of four national hearings was held June 7 in Long Beach, with final comments to the Transportation Security Administration due July 6.

While the TWIC card has been met with skepticism on the part of labor, others have supported it.

Jim McKenna, president of the Pacific Maritime Association in San Francisco, which represents West Coast waterfront employers, praised the identity card system. “We totally support the TWIC card,” McKenna said. “We need to have people who have access to the waterfront—whether it is dockworkers, office workers, management or truck drivers to the piers—have security checks to make sure they are cleared to be on the docks and have proper identification.”

And many shippers support the new identity card system, as long as it doesn’t interfere with commerce. “In this post-9/11 era, we need to have a secure and efficient supply chain,” said Allen Thompson, vice president for global supply chain policy for the Retail Industry Leaders Association, an Arlington, Va., trade association that represents retailers such as Best Buy Co. Inc., Gap Inc., Nike Inc. and Limited Brands Inc.

Under the TWIC system, anyone going through port gates unescorted must have a photo identity card. The biometric card will use either fingerprints or a retinal scan to help identify the carrier.

Workers must undergo a criminal background check that examines whether they have been arrested or charged with any crimes within the last seven years or whether they have been incarcerated within the last five years. All TWIC cardholders must be U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents.

Union representatives fear that criminal background checks may disqualify some of their dockworkers who in their youth might have smoked marijuana or had a run-in with the law. There are nearly 17,000 dockworkers, foremen and marine clerks qualified to work at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

“We are going to have some people lose their jobs,” said Ole Olson, a local longshoreman for 30 years. He sits on the Central California Maritime Security Committee, an advisory committee to the Department of Homeland Security. “There are no Bin Ladens here,” Olson said. “Sometimes there are some pretty rough characters, but by and large, these are hard-working folks who mean no harm to the country.”

Olson points out that some messy divorces and child custody battles have netted some workers charges of assault or kidnapping. Others have experimented with drugs in their youth. “I’m sure we have some kids who might have had a pot bust when they were in college. Does that make them terrorists?”

Steve Stallone, an ILWU spokesman in San Francisco, reiterated those concerns. “If you committed a crime in your youth and did your time and now have a good job and are a contributing member of society, why should you have that taken away from you?” he observed. “Being punished twice for the same crime is unconstitutional.”

Truckers and dockworkers are also uneasy about the appeals process. Will it be fair and speedy? What do workers do in the interim?

“We need to have a swift appeals process so a person isn’t put out of a job,” said Senecal, whose company employs hundreds of independent truckers who pick up cargo at the ports. “For truckers, with the high cost of fuel, every paycheck counts. These drivers are not sitting on a couple of weeks of cash.”