By ANTHONY GRAY

Herald Staff Writer

#Brownsville Navigation District commissioners renewed the operating license

of Gulf Stream Marine Inc. amid protests from union port workers who contend

the company has lowered the wage scale at the Port of Brownsville.

Commissioners voted 3-2 to allow Gulf Stream, a non-union stevedoring company

that loads and unloads cargo ships, to continue operating at the port for

another year.

More than 100 people packed the lobby of BND headquarters, most of them in

support of the International Longshoremen's Union. The union bitterly opposed

the license renewal.

Commissioners Julius Collins, Dr. Joseph Coulter and W.W. Reed voted in favor

of the license renewal, which was recommended by port staff. Pro-union

Commissioners Evelon Dale and Joe Saenz opposed the measure.

Reed was pressured to abstain from voting on the renewal issue. When Gulf

Stream's license was first awarded in December 1993, he abstained from voting.

He said his vote would be a conflict of interest because his son-in-law, Mark

Hoskins, worked for Gulf Stream. Hoskins is president of Admiral Shipping Co.,

a shipping agent for ships for which Gulf Stream is a stevedore.

"I have been advised by legal counsel that my vote is not a conflict of

interest. My son-in-law, Mark Hoskins, is not receiving any payment from Gulf

Stream Marine. I am prepared to vote," Reed said.

Before the vote, Gulf Stream attorney Tom Fleming and ILA attorney Ed

Stapleton were each given 20 minutes to present their respective arguments.

Stapleton produced a replica of one of Reed's recent campaign posters that

read "No Conflicts of Interest." Attached was a Nov. 25 Gulf Stream shipping

receipt signed by Hoskins.

"It is not free enterprise when a company comes in and forces lower wages,"

Stapleton said. "What they've (Gulf Stream) done is come in and busted a

contract at a public port."

In rebuttal, Fleming contended that Gulf Stream has invested $2 million in the

port within 10 months, created 30 new jobs and created a 211,000 metric ton

increase in port cargo. He further defended Hoskins' relationship with the

company.

"Mark Hoskins is not now, nor has ever been, an employee of Gulf Stream

Marine. He has never derived one nickel in direct compensation from this

company," Fleming said.

However, ILA President Harry Noble said that because of Gulf Stream's entry to

the port, union wages at the port have fallen by nearly 50 percent while

overall tonnage has increased at the port.

"This is union busting, pure and simple. I think they are just testing the

water with the ILA," Noble said. "We just have to wait until '96 to get rid

of the commissioners. We'll just fight it politically."