Two Jacksonville women,Vonceil Fisher and Traveine Howard, recently filed a sex discrimination suit against the Int’l Longshoremen’s Ass’n, ILA Local 1408 and others. The state class-action suit was filed on behalf of all female-longshore-workers and for actions in 1970-99. Court records state ILA denied women “treatment equal to that afforded male workers with regard to availability of work, work assignments, hours of work and opportunity for earning compensation, on the basis of gender.” The suit further states that the women were subject to a hostile work environment, including “crude and derogatory references to female workers,” “sexual jokes” and “physically abusive conduct.” The suit seeks unspecified damages. [Florida Times-Union 3/13/99]
