Tacoma’s Longshore Union is quietly opening up more than 200 jobs to the public this week. The union will conduct a lottery on April 8 to pick 226 people to become casual workers.
The News-Tribune reports that to be entered in that drawing, potential workers must submit their name, address, phone number and signature on a postcard to the union’s and employers’ Joint Port Labor Relations Committee by mail. That postcard must be postmarked no later than midnight Wednesday.
The jobs may not be immediately lucrative. They’re at the bottom rung of the longshore workers’ ladder. Casuals work on the waterfront only after regular longshore workers are all occupied or unavailable. Those positions could lead to regular longshore jobs eventually.
