Page 39 - Port of Baltimore Magazine May/June 2011
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May/June 2011
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The Port of Baltimore
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Steamship Trade Association, Leichling
“is a man with integrity and represents
his people well. He has a credible working
relationship with the employers, and is
respected among them.”
At the dispatch hall — on Portal Street
in Dundalk — Leichling is contacted daily
with work orders from all the employers,
and then gives out the assignments to
available crew, who work on a day-to-day
basis.
The members all have Port ID cards
listing their seniority and qualifications,
so there’s no dispute about who gets to
do what. If there are still people in the
hall who haven’t been given a job on a
particular day, Leichling calls around to
see if he can rustle up additional work.
Leichling’s day begins when he
rises at 4 a.m. at his Denton, Md., home
and prepares for his long commute to
Baltimore. Leichling moved to the Eastern
Shore of Maryland with his parents at age
10, and says he wouldn’t live anywhere
else. “I love the slow pace over here,” he
explained. Baltimore’s frenetic activity
is fine for the work day, he says, but he
always looks forward to returning home.
Even the hour-and-a-half commute each
way doesn’t deter him. “I listen to Sirius
Radio!” he noted.
At home, he enjoys spending quality
time with his wife and three children. Of
course, there are the occasional work-
related phone calls he receives, but they
are “all part of the job.”
And it’s a job that Leichling never
takes for granted. ILA Local 1429 “has
been very good to me,” he said. “You’re
with these guys more than you are with
your own family. My job is to protect their
jobs. I love them all.”
Leichling “is a man with
integrity and represents
his people well. He has
a credible working
relationship with the
employers, and is
respected among them.”
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