Evergreen America has asked the National Labor Relations Board to seek a temporary federal-court injunction against the International Longshoremen's Association for picketing that has idled six Evergreen Marine ships in New York and Norfolk.

Longshoremen have refused to cross picket lines representing striking vessel planners employed y Evergreen America, North American general agent for the world's third-largest container carrier.

The picketing began May 14 at Port Elizabeth, N.J., where five ships have been idled, and spread this week to Norfolk and another vessel. The protest started six days after Evergreen America asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to reverse an NLRB ruling that ordered the company to recognize the ILA as bargaining agent for the vessel planners and to negotiate with the union.

Evergreen contends the vessel planners, or port captains, are managers who are ineligible for union representation. The port captains' duties include planning of vessel stowage. The appeals court has put the case on an expedited schedule, with final motions due June 23.

The case involves five port captains and engineers who voted 3-2 for union representation. In a separate case before the NLRB, the ILA is challenging its narrow loss last year in a referendum on unionization by about 115 clerical employees at Evergreen America's headquarters in Morristown, N.J. The ILA claims company coercion tainted the election, in which workers voted 61-52 against the union.

Evergreen Line announced Wednesday that because of the disruption to its operations, it had declared force majeure for its idled ships. Such an action frees a carrier from its contractual obligations because of unavoidable forces such as war, natural disaster or labor strife. Evergreen was among the lines that announced it was invoking force majeure during last fall's management lock-out of International Longshore and Warehouse Union members in West Coast ports.

The ILA's protest against Evergreen began at Maher Terminals in New Jersey, where longshoremen have refused to cross picket lines to work Evergreen ships. The work stoppage has been limited to Evergreen and that other operations at the terminal continue uninterrupted. Picketing at Norfolk briefly shut down all operations at Virginia International Terminals' Norfolk container terminal early Thursday before picketing was confined to Evergreen operations.

Evergreen America is one of four carriers whose New Jersey operations have been targeted by ILA organizers. The National Labor Relations Board also has pending cases involving the ILA and the New Jersey offices of Cosco, Hanjin and Yang Ming.

By Joseph Bonney