Longshoremen Hold One-Day Walkout

West Coast longshoremen staged a 24-hour work stoppage Monday, but their union was as silent as the docks about the reason for the walkout.

Whatever the dispute was, it apparently occurred in Seattle and involved the suspension of a union member, sources said. But the union local here and the San Francisco headquarters of the International Warehousemen’s and Longshoremen’s Union both said officials weren’t available to comment.

Stuart Miner, a spokesman for the Port of Seattle, confirmed the work stoppage was coastwide and said it involved a dispute involving a union worker’s suspension.

ILWU members load and unload ships and handle their cargos. They are dispatched at union halls after an industry group, the Pacific Maritime Association, tells the dispatchers how many gangs are needed on a particular day.

Recently, some so-called “casual” workers at a longshoreman local in Tacoma have complained that they haven’t gotten a fair shake in being dispatched to jobs.