The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will not take up a South Carolina coastal port dispute between the state and dockworkers at the Leatherman Terminal.
That means dockworkers with the International Longshoremen’s Association will continue to operate Leatherman cranes. And it means union workers can do the same at any new terminal that opens at ports in Georgia or the Carolinas.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh was the lone justice who argued that he would have granted a formal request for the court to hear the case. At least four justices must agree to hear the case for it to proceed.
The head of the state’s ports called the Supreme Court’s decision a disappointment.
“We will work together with the ILA to bring forward a solution that unlocks much-needed terminal capacity and prioritizes caring for our workforces and providing excellent service for our customers,” Barbara Melvin said in a statement.
The longshoremen’s association was more celebratory.
On its Facebook page, ILA President Harold Daggett said, in part, “Now, any new terminal falls under ILA’s jurisdiction, and if not then the United States Maritime Alliance ocean carriers can’t call that terminal. This marks the second historic win for the ILA at the Supreme Court in recent years.”
Gov. Henry McMaster, who last month in his State of the State speech vowed to fight labor unions to the “gates of hell,” told reporters Thursday that many Longshoremen’s Association workers are not equipped to handle the type of cranes the state workers use.
“ILA canes are multimillion-dollar machines. A complex, wrong move can destroy a lot of progress, destroy a lot of equipment and hurt a lot of people,” he said. “So, they are these massive delicate machines, and you have to know how to operate them, like flying a plane. You just have to know how everybody just can’t walk in and do it.”
The court met on Friday and published the decision Tues. morning.
