In the wake of last week’s waterfront riot, with rumors of a port-wide slowdown swirling across the docks, the head of the largest International Longshoremen’s Association local gave a reassuring and surprisingly lighthearted speech Wednesday night to maritime industry leaders. Speaking to a meeting of the Propeller Club of the Port of Charleston, Kenneth Riley Jr. described the riot as “an unfortunate situation and one we do not believe will happen again.”
And, in remarks after his speech, Riley said his men would not slow operations at the State Ports Authority’s terminals as feared by many in the audience. “We don’t want to hurt the people who are faithful to us.” said Riley. “Those rumors are false.”
Statements like that were welcome to local waterfront leaders whose anxiety levels have surged since last Thursday when hundreds of union dockworkers went on a rampage, pelting police with bricks and debris. In the melee, eight people were arrested and more than 10 people, including Riley, were injured. The union is upset that Nordana Line, a Danish shipping outfit, switched to a non-union stevedore to load and unload its ships.
But the passions that triggered the riot are much deeper than the loss of Nordana’s business, and in his speech Wednesday at the Charleston Yacht Club, Riley touched on themes that have fired up his men.
Acknowledging the tension in the room, Riley started with a couple of jokes, including a comment about how he told the group’s organizers that he would speak under one condition: “Everyone’s pockets and purses need to be checked for rocks.” He talked about how the union prides itself on its productivity and safety record and how local longshoremen handle more tonnage per man hour than any port in the country. But he said it is troubling that state development officials try to attract industry by advertising the state’s low wage rates.
Riley said that low-wage “jobs with no future are starting to infiltrate the docks” and that if wages go down, the area’s economy will suffer. “The ILA is trying to preserve an industry standard that took generations to build.”
Two years ago when he spoke to the Propeller Club, the audience gave him a standing ovation. This time, he got a more tepid round of applause. Still, several people came to him afterward and thanked him for having the guts to face the group.
Indeed, the riot has put a spotlight on Riley, who as president of ILA Local 1422, leads about 1,000 men. Riley, 46, is a compact, muscular man who is friendly and quick to joke with friends. But this laid-back, soft-spoken demeanor hides a streak of activism. Throughout his life, Riley has found strength in numbers. Some of this awareness comes from his father, who helped organize migrant crews to pick crops along the East Coast. Some of this comes from his own experience. In 1969, Riley was sent to an integrated school where white students spit at him and hit him in the head. He and other black students met daily to check on each other, planning to pull the fire alarm if they got in trouble.
As an adult, Riley sought leadership roles. When he attended the College of Charleston, he and his older brother helped start Kappa Alpha Psi, the college’s first black fraternity.
In 1977, he joined the ILA. Within a year, he was a union trustee. In 1996, he ran for Local 1422 president. His opponent was Benjamin Flowers, who held that post for 16 years and was one of the highest ranking leaders in the union’s national organization. In his campaign, Riley claimed Flowers had given away too many wage and work-rule concessions. Riley won with 70 percent of the vote.
His victory came at a pivotal time for the ILA, both in Charleston and across the nation. For much of the century, the union battled to improve working conditions and wages on the docks. “We were hired in the streets in all kinds of weather,” Riley told the Propeller Club. In 1969, the union moved into its first hall on East Bay Street, and five years later built its existing headquarters on Morrison Drive.
It was during the 1960s and 1970s, however, that the ILA began to suffer the effects of containerization. As more and more cargo was stuffed into standard-sized containers, fewer longshoremen were needed. Thousands lost their jobs. But while the overall number of dockworker jobs decreased, the ILA was able to keep wages relatively high for its remaining members because of the union’s national reach. If a major steamship line wants to use non-union dockworkers at a particular port, the ILA could strike at all ports the steamship line uses, crippling the company’s operations.
The union’s high wages and benefits, however, opened the door to non-union companies that offered shipping lines cheaper rates. In ports like Houston, New Orleans and Baltimore, non-union companies made deep inroads, forcing the ILA to offer rate and wage cuts to stay competitive.
When Riley took over as president in 1996, Charleston’s waterfront had seen no serious non-union challenges. But the next year, Jock Stender formed a non-union stevedoring company, targeting ships hauling frozen poultry to Russia. Stender’s move eventually forced the ILA to cut rates to win back that business.
Then, last year, Nordana Line decided to use non-union dockworkers. It was a huge symbolic challenge. Nordana was the first established line that hauls containers to leave the ILA fold.
Some longshoremen fear that if Nordana is successful, other steamship lines may follow. The ILA was so concerned that just before the riot, Riley offered to work Nordana’s ship for free as a goodwill gesture - an offer Nordana declined.
The riot comes in the midst of another union election, which takes place Friday. This time it’s Flowers who’s the challenger. According to posters at the ILA’s headquarters, Flowers is questioning whether union leaders are giving away too many concessions. During Wednesday’s speech, Riley said “we are definitely opposed to any violence that has taken place in the past.” But afterward, he said the union will continue its fight against Nordana.
He said national union leaders are considering some moves, though he declined to be specific. When asked whether the ILA’s branch in Houston might hold a sympathy protest against Nordana, Riley said vaguely: “When things don’t go the way you planned, you change strategies.” (Nordana still uses ILA workers in Houston.)
Riley said he was offended by rumors that the union planned to import longshoremen from other ports to participate in future protests. He said a law enforcement officer recently asked whether it was true that the union planned to bring in 3,000 longshoremen. Riley said that wouldn’t happen. Out-of-state longshoremen aren’t invested in the community and would be harder to control.
“In the end, when all this is over and done with,” he said, “we’ve still got to live together.”
