Newark container terminal where an ILA worker was killed on the job last night.
Earline Brundage was working as a “hold man” on the Newark waterfront, according to a co-worker who saw the accident that killed her.
Brundage’s job, the longshoreman said, was to remove the metal “shoes” from bus-sized shipping containers while a crane unloaded them at Berth 51 of the Port Newark Container Terminal. The quart-sized shoes, which lock containers together while they’re stacked aboard ships crossing the ocean, are removed once the containers are unloaded.
Just after 7 p.m. Wednesday, as a container dangled waist-high so Brundage could remove its shoes, the co-worker and authorities said Thursday, something went wrong. The container swung wildly, catching the 47-year-old woman in its path and pinning her against another shipping container lying nearby on the dock.
A worker quickly pulled Brundage by her legs from beneath the container, said the co-worker, who requested anonymity because he’s not authorized to discuss the accident. At that point, Brundage was alive but unresponsive.
“It was a nightmare,” the longshoreman said.
Brundage was a member of the still small sorority of female longshoremen who began working at the Port of New York and New Jersey in the late 1970s. On Wednesday, she became the first woman killed on the job at the port, said James McNamara, a national spokesman for the International Longshoremen’s Association. Brundage was a member of ILA Local 1233. He called for a thorough investigation while extending condolences.
“Right now, we also want to send our prayers to the family and we’ll continue to offer support and counseling to the longshoremen who were on the job (Wednesday) night,” McNamara said.