[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 118 (Thursday, July 20, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1477]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E1477]]


                       AMERICAN LONGSHOREMAN JOBS

                                 ______


                            HON. LINDA SMITH

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 20, 1995
  Mrs. SMITH of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I take the well of the House 
today to talk about American longshoreman jobs that are being 
needlessly lost. The Secretary of State is charged with compiling a 
list of countries who reciprocate with the United States in allowing 
their longshoremen work while in a host port. That list is fatally 
flawed.
  The Government Accounting Office [GAO] has been very critical of the 
Secretary of State for the manner in which the State Department 
compiled its reciprocity list. A better analysis of the situation and 
the rendering of a new list, as required by law, would keep potentially 
large numbers of American longshoremen jobs from being lost. Currently, 
the work product of the Secretary of State has led to opportunities for 
crew members aboard foreign commercial vessels to perform longshore 
work in American waters. The potentially high job losses caused by the 
Department of State's misinterpretation of Congress' intent to protect 
American longshore jobs could be disastrous for our workers.
  According to my esteemed colleague, the senior Senator from 
Washington State, Slade Gorton, the Department of State's 
misinterpretation of the reciprocity law ``may open the door to 
allowing more foreign crewmen to perform longshore work in the U.S.'' I 
agree with Senator Gorton. Now is not the time to allow more American 
jobs to flow overseas, certainly not at the hand of our own State 
Department and certainly not contrary to the intent of Congress.
  Now is the time for the Secretary of State to revisit the reciprocity 
issue and consider the GAO's recommendation to evaluate industry 
practices and collective bargaining agreements which reserve longshore 
work exclusively for foreign crews. Starting in the 1980's, foreign 
ship owners began to tie up their ships and load logs using their own 
crews. Before the 1980's, this work had always been reserved for 
American longshoremen. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit 
upheld the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union 
position that this practice violated several Immigration and 
Naturalization Service [INS] regulations. Still, this practice goes 
unchecked by our State Department despite the intent of Congress to 
rectify this situation.
  Mr. Speaker, we don't need another legislative answer to this 
problem. Congress has already addressed this issue by passing bi-
partisan amendments to the Immigration and Naturalization Act which 
affirmed the rights of American waterfront workers. What we need today 
is action by the Secretary of State in reviewing the list of countries 
who grant reciprocity to American longshoremen and publish a new list 
which is fair to the American worker.
  I ask all my colleagues who value the sanctity and preservation of 
American jobs to urge the Secretary of State to review the reciprocity 
list and preserve the intent of Congress to keep American jobs from 
needlessly being lost to foreign crew members.


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