[070311.EN.SEA] UASC To Shift US Office From NJ To South East As Union Organises

THE United Arab Shipping Company (UASC) has announced it will move its American head office and 80-strong staff from New Jersey to somewhere in the US south east by the end of the year.

UASC denied the plan had anything to do with the recent success of the east coast dockers union, the International Longshoremen's Association, at unionising UASC staff.

"We had been discussing this with the board for some time. It's just coincidental," said Anil Vitarana, president of United Arab Agencies, UASC's North American general agent in Cranford, NJ, just west of the large container port at Elizabeth.

Four UASC port captains and container equipment coordinators voted 3-1 last month for ILA representation, reported Newark's Journal of Commerce. ILA Local 1964 filed a National Labour Relations Board complaint on February 1 accusing the company of violating labour law by unilaterally changing employment terms and conditions of the newly unionised employees, said the report.

Source : HKSG, 01.03.11.