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  1. #1
    Senior Member Brian503a's Avatar
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    ID rules could cut supply of port workers

    http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_3737118

    Article Launched: 04/22/2006 12:00:00 AM PDT

    ID rules could cut supply of port workers
    Maritime: Long-awaited post-9/11 reform to exclude some criminals, immigrants.

    By Felix Sanchez, Staff writer



    LONG BEACH — New federal identification measures proposed by U.S. agencies for the cargo industry could cost thousands of port workers their jobs and clog the flow of goods to consumers, critics say.
    Not all the details for the proposed program have been hammered out by the Transportation Security Administration and U.S. Coast Guard, but industry officials said it could mean illegal immigrants and workers convicted of certain crimes could be removed from their current jobs.

    That has at least one advocacy group for immigrant rights questioning whether the program could be abused.

    And representatives for California truckers said their workers could be tossed out of jobs for minor crimes that have nothing to do with national security.

    The Transportation Worker Identification Credential Program could be unveiled as early as next week and is a federal plan to control access to harbors, rail yards, airports and other cargo transit system areas to prevent terrorist attacks.

    The agencies have been working on the plan since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks amid criticism that the focus and funding in the fight against terrorism have been lopsided in favor of the flying industry with ports getting slighted.

    "We are the first to admit that we need to finish the job," the agency said in a statement. "This is an initiative that has languished for too long."

    The proposal would bar anyone who is on a terror watch list, entered the country illegally or has certain criminal convictions. Among the disqualifying crimes would be offenses related to espionage, terrorism, explosives or "a transportation security incident."

    In some cases, workers could be excluded for assault with intent to murder, kidnapping, rape, drug offenses, extortion, robbery and fraud.

    It's unclear exactly how many workers fall into those categories.

    Last week, seven of 50 truckers checked by immigration authorities outside the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex were arrested on suspicion of being in the country illegally, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

    But the possibility that workers could lose their jobs because of overzealous enforcement has raised worries that not enough people would be available in the industry to sufficiently move cargo.

    "Of course there are concerns," said Chuck Carroll of the National Association of Waterfront Employers, a trade group for terminal operators. "You'd have the same number of boxes but fewer people to move them, and that could mean major congestion."

    Stephanie Williams with the California Trucking Association said her group supports the federal law as long as all truckers are treated fairly.

    "We don't want to exclude people from being a truck driver because they have a littering fine in the past," Williams said. "The punishment has to fit the crime. Clearly there's a line within the public domain about what is OK and not OK. Let's move freight safely and efficiently. This isn't a social justice issue. This is an employment and safety issue."

    Steve Stallone, spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, said a conviction shouldn't automatically preclude someone from working.

    "Just because a guy got into a bar fight does not make him a terrorist," said Stallone, whose union represents nearly 14,000 West Coast longshoremen and clerks. "Terrorist acts are one thing. But that you beat up your next-door neighbor? I don't think so."

    Any significant loss of workers could cause big problems for the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, which process more than 43 percent of imported goods at their terminals.
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  2. #2
    Senior Member lsmith1338's Avatar
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    WOW!! Enforcement only 5 years after 9/11, impressive record!!!
    Freedom isn't free... Don't forget the men who died and gave that right to all of us....
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  3. #3
    Senior Member JohnB2012's Avatar
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    In some cases, workers could be excluded for assault with intent to murder, kidnapping, rape, drug offenses, extortion, robbery and fraud.
    "could be" I think they should be!

  4. #4
    Senior Member Scubayons's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JohnB2012
    In some cases, workers could be excluded for assault with intent to murder, kidnapping, rape, drug offenses, extortion, robbery and fraud.
    "could be" I think they should be!
    I couldn't agree more.
    http://www.alipac.us/
    You can not be loyal to two nations, without being unfaithful to one. Scubayons 02/07/06

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