Port Community Mourns Loss of Labor Leader
HR Partnership | February 5, 2010
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Reposted from the Port of Virginia’s blog: Edward L. Brown Sr., the long-time leader of the Atlantic Coast District of the International Longshoremen’s Association, died Friday Feb. 5; he was 84. |
Brown spent 50 years on the Hampton Roads waterfront with the ILA, and during that career spent time solving problems and negotiating on behalf of the union from Maine to Texas. Many who knew Brown and sat on the opposite side of the table from him are quick to remember one of his favorite sayings as a negotiator: “We are in the middle of the couch.”
“I think his dedication to the ILA, and in particular the men and women he represented here, will never be matched again,” said Roger Giesinger, president of the Hampton Roads Shipping Association. “Ed led this Union to greatness with his forward-thinking and his ability to make decisions when they were not popular to all his members. Typically, these decisions were not only the right decisions, but decisions that created more jobs and more money for ILA benefits….








































































According to panelist City of Hampton Mayor Molly Joseph Ward, this very same morning, the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization (





