Unions move to sink GOP port bills

The AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department (TTD) said Monday that a pair of Republican measures to reduce the potential for strikes at U.S. ports are "unnecessary" interventions into labor relations at the nation's docks.

The measures, from Sens. Cory Gardiner (R-Colo.) and John Thune (R-S.D.), would expand the ability of governors to intervene in port labor disputes and require greater port tracking by the Department of Transportation, respectively.

The AFL-CIO TTD, which represents more than 30 transportation-related unions, said Monday that the measures are overreaches by Republicans in reaction to a standoff at West Coast ports earlier this year that resulted in a temporary shutdown of nearly 30 ports in February.

"[Sen.] Gardner and his allies claim that this bill is needed to prevent labor-management disputes from interfering with port operations," the group wrote in a blog post of Colorado senator's Protecting Orderly and Responsible Transit of Shipments (PORTS) Act.

http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/246965-unions-criticize-gop-port-bills