Comeback for ILA.(International Longshoremen's Association)

BYLINE: BY JOSEPH BONNEY

Clyde Fitzgerald still has a copy of a 2000 Journal of Commerce report on a nascent campaign by the Inter-national Longshoremen's Association to regain breakbulk work lost to non-ILA competitors in Gulf and South Atlantic ports. The article said the campaign would be "a difficult sell."

Fitzgerald, who heads the ILA's South Atlantic and Gulf District, says the story was accurate - the union hasn't had an easy time clawing back its market share. But he says that despite the difficulty, the ILA has succeeded in turning the tide against nonunion competitors.

"We've been able to prevent further non-ILA incursions and even regain some of the work that we'd lost," Fitzgerald said. He reports that the ILA's …