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| ILWU President Bob McEllrath was detained by police as workers massed on railroad tracks to stop a shipment of grain to a non-ILWU terminal. |
The confrontation between West Coast longshore workers and an anti-union exporter exploded as pickets massed on railroad tracks by the hundreds yesterday (Sept 7th) to block grain shipments.
Police used clubs and pepper spray on protesters in Longview, Washington, as they made 19 arrests.
Early this morning a terminal there was invaded and hoppers holding about 10,000 tons of grain were opened onto railroad tracks.
Ports in Washington shut down completely Thursday as hundreds of longshore workers rushed to Longview, in the state’s southwestern corner.
Bill Proctor, a Longshore Union (ILWU) retiree, was with fellow retirees and active workers on an early morning picket line at a Seattle grain terminal. He said, “If that facility is allowed to go non-ILWU, other facilities will be tempted to follow suit. And the grain terminals on the coast are all going into contract bargaining next month.”
A foreman came out to politely assure the picketers that no one would do their work.
EGT Development, a consortium of three companies, wants to operate its new $200 million grain terminal in Longview using non-ILWU labor, despite a contract with the port requiring it to do so. When the ILWU protested, the company signed up with an Operating Engineers local.
Every other major grain terminal on the West Coast is operated by ILWU labor, and the union asserts that EGT’s goal is to go non-union altogether, ending generations of good jobs.
Read the full story
Story: Evan Rohar and Jane Slaughter
Photo: Dawn DesBrisay
Photo: Dawn DesBrisay
