This summer will mark a time of transition for more than a hundred workers at JAXPORT's Blount Island Marine Terminal.
First Coast Terminals, LLC, a subsidiary of Jacksonville-based TOTE, LLC told WJCT News Friday it will be employing all union-represented workers being let go by PORTUS Services LLC, which is a division of Jacksonville-based Patriot Rail & Ports.
“As the successor to PORTUS, First Coast Terminals will continue the stevedoring operations in support of TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico's vessels at the JAXPORT Blount Island Terminal and employ all of the same workers represented by the Seafarers International Union (SIU)," First Coast Terminals told WJCT News in a formal statement.
All 132 full-time longshoremen/women represented by the Seafarers International Union are coming into the same positions at TOTE as they had with PORTUS, with the same pay and hours, according to TOTE spokesman Christopher B. Smith.
First Coast Terminals will be taking over PORTUS-Jacksonville operations on July 1. The final day of operations under PORTUS will be June 30. PORTUS announced in a April 28 letter to the state it was letting go 138 workers, saying the majority of those employees are represented by the Seafarers International Union.
Portus-Jacksonville has been operating at Blount Island since 1992, according to its website.
Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
Photo used under Creative Commons license.
