N.Y. Executive Law § 534-a: Legislative findings and declarations

§ 534-a. Legislative findings and declarations. 1. The state of New

York hereby finds and declares that:

In 1953, the conditions under which waterfront labor was employed

within the port of New York district were depressing and degrading to

such labor, resulting from the lack of any systematic method of hiring,

the lack of adequate information as to the availability of employment,

corrupt and discriminatory hiring practices, criminal practices, and

coercion of employees or employers. Now, it continues to be in the best

interest of the state to regulate activities within the port of New York

district in this state to prevent such conditions and to prevent

circumstances that result in waterfront laborers suffering from

irregularity of employment, fear and insecurity, inadequate earnings, an

unduly high accident rate, subjection to borrowing at usurious rates of

interest, exploitation and extortion as the price of securing

employment, a loss of respect for the law, and destruction of the

dignity of an important segment of American labor, and to prevent a

direct encouragement of crime which imposes a levy of greatly increased

costs on food, fuel and other necessaries handled in and through the

port of New York district in this state.

It is in the best interest of the state to ensure that the function of

loading and unloading trucks and other land vehicles at piers and other

waterfront terminals should be performed, as in every other major

American port, without the abuses of the public loader system, and by

the carriers of freight by water, stevedores and operators of such piers

and other waterfront terminals or the operators of such trucks or other

land vehicles. Therefore, it is in the best interest of the state to

regulate the occupations of longshore workers, stevedores, pier

superintendents, hiring agents, and security officers, who are affected

with a public interest, which is an exercise of the police power of this

state. It is further in the best interest of the state to ensure that

the method of employment of longshore workers and security officers be

conducted through employment information centers to prevent grave injury

to the welfare of waterfront laborers and of the people at large and to

ensure the preservation of the fundamental rights and liberties of

labor, the economic stability of the port of New York district in this

state, and the advancement of law enforcement therein.

Although law enforcement's efforts against traditional organized crime

influence have been successful, such influence remains a significant

threat in the New York metropolitan area, particularly in the port.

Continued oversight is essential to ensure fair and nondiscriminatory

hiring practices, to eliminate labor racketeering and the victimization

of legitimate union members and port businesses, and to prevent

organized crime figures from directly operating at the critical points

of interstate and international shipping.

To preserve the safety and welfare of the state, it is the intent of

this act to prevent and eradicate mismanagement, abuse of labor,

coercion, corruption, prevalence of organized crime and other criminal

activity, to exclude or remove from the port workforce individuals who

were convicted of serious crimes or who associate with organized crime

in violation of this act, to overcome discrimination and other unfair

hiring practices, and to extirpate corruption and racketeering in the

port of New York district in this state.