ILWU longshore workers in Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, are facing a union busting attack by Marubeni who owns Columbia Grain and United Grain which is owned by Mitsui
The Gettier company has brought in armed scabs and they are running the operation nonunion.
The ILWU faces a major attack in the Northwest with the successful introduction of scabs at Columbia Grain owned by Marubeni in Portland and United Grain owned by Mitsui in Vancouver, Washington.
These bosses are spending millions on the security firm Gettier to operate non-union with the support of the police and Obama’s Coast Guard.
The ILWU has yet to mobilise their membership coastwise and the rest of the labour community to shut these operations down and the members are being targeted with the collusion of the police.
ILWU Local 8 represents workers at Columbia Grain in Portland and ILWU Local 4 in Vancouver, Washington.
Strike supporters also talk about concession bargaining and how that has affected the health and safety conditions at the grain terminals and weakened the union hiring hall allowing management to pick and choose workers who will be anti-labour.
This successful operation of non-union ports for the first time since 1934 is a serious threat to the future of the ILWU and the victory in the west coast contract when it expires in 2014.
Brad Clark, former president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 4, was arrested last Friday on suspicion of trespassing outside the United Grain terminal at the Port of Vancouver.
The ILWU has picketed the terminal since the union was locked out on February 27 as part of a larger dispute between the union and grain terminal operators in Washington and Oregon.
Clark, 48, was booked in the Clark County Jail at 10:35am Friday and later released. Bail was set at $325. A court appearance was scheduled for Tuesday, 2nd July.
The longshore union has been at odds with United Grain and two other Northwest terminal operators, Columbia Grain and LD Commodities, that are part of the Pacific Northwest Grain Handlers Association and that operate a total of four grain-export terminals in Vancouver, Portland and Seattle.
Initially, another grain terminal operator, Temco, negotiated with the ILWU as a member of the Grain Handlers Association.
But Temco, a US-based operator of grain export facilities in Portland, Tacoma and Kalama, broke away from the group to negotiate directly with union dockworkers.
An earlier contract between the grain handlers and the ILWU expired at the end of September.
Months of negotiations on a new contract failed to reach an agreement. The contract dispute intensified February 27, when United Grain locked out 44 dockworkers at the Port of Vancouver after it alleged a union official sabotaged equipment.
The union has denied wrongdoing, and the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney hasn’t yet decided whether to file criminal charges.
In May, Columbia Grain imposed a lockout at its terminal in Portland. The union says that lockout cut 50 to 75 workers out of their jobs.
Temco, a joint venture between Cargill Inc. and CHS Inc., has signed a temporary contract with the ILWU.
Last Friday a letter was sent from the ILWU’s Puget Sound District Council President Dan McKisson regarding work that the Port of Vancouver had contracted for Friday, June 28, through Wednesday, July 3rd.
Brother McKisson referred to a Port of Vancouver attorney’s June 26 letter to ILWU announcing work scheduled behind picket lines.
He said: ‘Brothers and Sisters,
‘Attached is a notice from attorneys representing the Port of Vancouver describing a plan to enter the UGC facility to remove equipment and do “punchlist” work between 0600 June 28 and July 3, 2013.
‘The attorneys for the port quote case law as to the legality of the work they want performed behind ILWU picket lines.
‘I am not an attorney and cannot tell you whether a union member can “legally” work behind another union’s pickets, but I do know that working behind another union’s pickets is wrong and detrimental to that union’s fight and the labour movement as a whole.
‘Working behind another union’s pickets only empowers the company and removes leverage from the union that is in the fight.
‘If your union represents any of the companies listed in the attached letter or any company your union represents asks you to enter the UGC facility we ask that you refuse to cross or work behind any ILWU picket lines.
‘Because you can “legally” use a gate without pickets does not make it OK.
‘Please do not assist the grain merchants. Your actions will help bring an end to the lockout.
‘The ILWU will win this fight and will win it with solidarity from other unions. When our brothers and sisters are in a fight and need the ILWU we will be there.
‘We thank you in advance for your solidarity.
‘Dan McKisson ‘President, Puget Sound District Council – ILWU’
The companies involved include Younglove Construction Company, Design Space Modulars, Gerlock Towing & Heavy Haul, Bones Construction, Clark Public Utilities, Advanced American Construction and Cherry City Electric.
Support for the locked out port workers in the Pacific Northwest of America continues to grow, the latest display being a visit from a Japanese union leader to the picket lines in Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, says the ITF global union.
The ITF has lodged a formal complaint with the companies and over nine thousand people have joined a LabourStart e-protest campaign which calls on Mitsui to drop their aggressive tactics against ITF-affiliate union the ILWU.
The ITF believes this action has been taken in a bid to pressure the union into accepting a substandard agreement in ongoing negotiations over a new grain contract following the expiration of the existing one last year.
Fusao Ohori, a representative of ITF-affiliate the All-Japan Seamen’s Union based in Tokyo, joined union dockworkers last Friday in Vancouver and Portland, and read a statement saying the ILWU faces difficulties ‘due to unjust treatment and demands by terminal companies in the Pacific Northwest.’
He also announced a $10,000 donation to the union fund which the ILWU says will ‘help defray the costs of the lockout, including provisions for the picket line, legal representation, fliers and signs.’
The visit follows a series of meetings organised by the National Federation of Dockworkers’ Unions of Japan (ZENKOKU-KOWAN) on 30 May with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan, the Japanese Business Council and the Grain Division of Mitsui’s Head office.
During these meetings, the president of ZENKOKU-KOWAN, Kinichiro Itoya, led a delegation of top Japanese dockers’ leaders in voicing concerns over the behaviour of these companies and expressing solidarity with ILWU members. The delegation included the head of the ITF’s Tokyo office, Katsuji Taki and dockers’ section secretary, Sharon James.
International vice president of the ILWU Ray Familathe said: ‘The ongoing solidarity of unions around the world is crucial as this dispute continues.
‘We hope that the huge Japanese companies involved will take note that unions from their own country are taking significant steps to support ILWU members on the ground. We want them to come to their senses so that port workers can get back to their jobs.’
l Seafarers, dockers and ITF inspectors on Monday launch the year’s second East Asia maritime action week at major ports in Japan, Korea, Russia and Taiwan from 1st to 5th July.
The week is intended to ensure the welfare and safety of seafarers.
With the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 (MLC) coming into force on 20 August, participants will be working closely to ensure that seafarers know their rights.
Three East Asia action weeks are scheduled for this year.
ITF Japan coordinator Fusao Ohori said: ‘Since flags of convenience (FOCs) became popular, tragedies such as collisions and environmental pollution have happened everywhere in the world. The number of FOC ships is still expanding and the ITF endeavours to reduce such catastrophes.’
