In letters to U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez and U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division Head Venita Gupta, Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka asked the Labor Secretary to thoroughly investigate the extent and causes of inequity in hiring for jobs at the Port of Newark and Elizabeth. He requested that they “act to remedy severe racial, gender and ethnic inequality in employment at the Port and an apparent bias against the hiring of local residents” and also asked the U.S. Attorney General to determine whether federal Civil Rights laws have been violated.
Mayor Baraka cited the fact that International Longshoremen’s Locals 1 and 1804-1 both have fewer than 6 percent Black members, under 13% Hispanic members and no women among their more than 1,000 total members. The Port is located in one of the nation’s most diverse communities. Newark and Elizabeth have a combined Black and Latino population of 77 percent. The mayor said that the two locals remain segregated despite years of attempts by the Waterfront Commission, Civil Rights organizations, and the City of Newark to desegregate the Port.
Mayor Baraka referenced a 2015 report that stated that of the 3,299 registered Longshore workers at the Port, only 299 (6.3%) had Newark addresses and that of the 3,299 workers, 2,055 are white, 787 Black, 410 Hispanic, 17 Asian and 30 others. Only 302 workers were women.
Mayor Baraka said that Port jobs have an enormous potential to boost the economies of Newark and Elizabeth, two cities struggling with high unemployment and underemployment. He said that Port jobs can be an important source of well-paying middle class jobs.
Most of the Black workers (523 of 787) come from the predominantly Black I.L.A. Local 1233. “Clearly, those hired to work at the Port are not representative of the diversity of the surrounding community,” he added.
