Here's why Washington longshore workers are so angry

A longshore worker faces off against police, 7 September
A longshore worker faces off against police, 7 September

Violence erupted 7 September in a major labor dispute that has simmered for months at the Port of Longview, leading to work shutdowns at ports up and down the Washington coast. Why are members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) — and their supporters in Washington and Oregon — so upset about a grain terminal that employs just 50 workers?

Submitted by Steven. on September 9, 2011

Here’s why.

EGT Development is a joint venture of Japan-based Itochu Corp, South Korea’s STX Pan Ocean and St. Louis-based Bunge North America. Like so many corporations that promise good jobs to get what they want, EGT got a special state tax exemption and a sweetheart lease deal from the Port of Longview to build a $200 million grain terminal there. The government even seized adjacent land for the project. But as soon as the deal’s ink was dry and the ceremonial first shovel of dirt was overturned two years ago, EGT began running the project on the cheap.

Despite high unemployment in Cowlitz County and the availability of hundreds of skilled union building trades workers, EGT imported the vast majority of its construction crews from low-wage communities out-of-state and did not pay area standard wages, leading to howls from the local labor community.

After the terminal was built, EGT decided to ignore the Port of Longview’s contract with ILWU Local 21 to hire union labor on its leased site. Instead, the multinational conglomerate hired non-union workers — claiming it would save the company $1 million a year (a figure the company later admitted had been plucked from the sky) — and EGT sued the Port, arguing it was not bound by the contract with the ILWU.

For months, ILWU picketed EGT and attempted to pressure the company to negotiate with the union. Those protests gradually grew in size as EGT refused to meet with the union, culminating in a major rally on June 3, when more than 1,000 ILWU supporters from Washington to California rallied outside EGT’s headquarters in downtown Portland. The protest was loud, but nonviolent.

The dispute escalated at a July 11 protest outside the EGT terminal in Longview, when members tore down a chain-link gate and stormed the EGT grain terminal. About 100 union dock workers, including union leaders, were cited and arrested.

“We are going to fight for our jobs in our jurisdiction. We have worked this dock for 70 years, and to have a big, rich corporation come in and say, ‘We don’t want you,’ is a problem,” ILWU 21 President Dan Coffman told the (Longview) Daily News. “We’re all together. We’re all going to jail as a union.”

On July 14, hundreds of union dock workers crowded onto railroad tracks to block a train from delivering grain to the EGT terminal. The Daily News reported that the 107-car train was rerouted to Vancouver following the standoff, which prompted Burlington Northern Santa Fe to indefinitely suspend train traffic to the grain terminal for safety reasons.

“By far this is the most intense labor event that I can remember,” Cowlitz County Sheriff Mark Nelson told the Daily News. But he said he understands what the union is trying to accomplish even though he didn’t agree with its tactics. “Bless their hearts. These are our neighbors, too. These are our folks. This is our community.”

EGT was feeling the heat, and community support for the local ILWU workers was growing as more people learned the facts of the dispute.

Then the company made a surprise announcement that it would hire a unionized subcontractor to run the terminal. EGT signed an agreement with Federal Way-based General Construction Co., a subsidiary of Kiewit, to operate the terminal with union members from the Portland-based International Union of Operating Engineers Local 701.

Both the Oregon AFL-CIO and the Washington State Labor Council condemned EGT’s attempt to pit union members against each other.

“EGT, a Japanese multinational corporation that has received tax breaks from our state to build this grain elevator, has thumbed its nose at the members of ILWU Local 21 and is trying to pit workers against workers, local unions against local unions. This is unacceptable,” Johnson said (pictured at left at a July 24 rally). “The work at the Port of Longview is longshore work and we need to come together as community and labor and say ‘no’ to EGT — ‘you will not disrespect labor in Longview or anywhere else in our state’.”

There have been numerous incidents provoked by EGT’s union-vs.-union arrangement. Most recently, a contractor drove right through the ILWU picket line on Aug. 29 and struck two ILWU members who, fortunately, were not seriously injured. Although the contractor was not cited or arrested for the vehicular assault, an angry ILWU picketer was arrested for allegedly damaging the next vehicle that attempted to cross the picket line, a charge based on video surveillance provided by an EGT security guard.

The next day, the National Labor Relations Board announced it was seeking a court order to end “aggressive picketing” at the EGT facility and allow Burlington Northern Santa Fe trains to deliver grain to the facility. Such an order was issued last week, according to Rich Ahearn, director of the NLRB’s Seattle office.

Which brings us to yesterday, Sept. 7.

Some 400 ILWU members stood on the railroad tracks to block a train from delivering grain to the terminal for about four hours, but the train passed through after protesters were confronted by 50 police officers in riot gear. ILWU President Robert McEllrath, who attended the protest, was detained by police, escalating tensions between protesters and officers. In the confrontation that ensued, police beat protesters away with clubs and pepper spray.

Ultimately, McEllrath returned to urge members to end the standoff.

“You can get maced and tear-gassed and clubbed (today)” or wait for longshore support from all over the West Coast when the next train tries to enter the EGT terminal, McEllrath reportedly told protesters after he met with police. “If we leave here, it doesn’t mean that we gave up and quit. It means we’re coming back.”

All but 16 of the protesters returned to the union hall; the 16 who refused were arrested for trespassing.

Early this morning, hundreds of ILWU members and their supporters reportedly stormed the EGT terminal at the Port of Longview, broke down the gates, overpowered security guards, damaged railroad cars, and dumped grain, according to Longview Police Chief Jim Duscha. Initial reports indicated no one was hurt and nobody has been arrested. After a few hours, the protesters returned to their union hall.

So that’s where we stand, as of this writing.

To sum up: a taxpayer-subsidized international conglomerate, which is operating on public property, is suing the public so it can avoid paying the area’s standard wages and undercut its competitors that do. Then, it exacerbated tensions with the local labor community by importing union workers from another jurisdiction to cross the picket lines.

That’s why ILWU members are angry, and that’s why this is about more than just 50 jobs in Longview.

By David Groves in www.thestand.org

Comments

AJI

13 years 3 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by AJI on September 9, 2011

What a great photo; in Chicago the cops make us use things like bamboo or thick cardboard for our flag poles and sign posts so we can't defend ourselves if they decide to start up a fight.

anabraxas

13 years 3 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by anabraxas on September 10, 2011

Greeks have been using thick handles from farming tools as flag poles for a long time. But bamboo are useful for disarming, with proper techniques, still.

joselito

13 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by joselito on September 19, 2011

Does anyone know what became of this struggle?

@theorynerd

13 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by @theorynerd on September 23, 2011

Hey, I live in Washington and actually wrote up a story and have been in constant contact with awesome port workers just an hour and a half south of my home town of Olympia, Washington.

http://pugetsoundanarchists.org/node/923

This is probably worth reading if you're interested in where this strike might be going. There is a rally and public demonstration against state repression on Thursday, which I suggested to some folks and they brought it up in their meeting and were stoked about.

Since this piece came out there has been some pretty solid "human"-scale relationships between insurrectionary anarchists and port workers being forged through this struggle.

Steven.

13 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Steven. on September 24, 2011

@theorynerd

Hey, I live in Washington and actually wrote up a story and have been in constant contact with awesome port workers just an hour and a half south of my home town of Olympia, Washington.

http://pugetsoundanarchists.org/node/923

This is probably worth reading if you're interested in where this strike might be going. There is a rally and public demonstration against state repression on Thursday, which I suggested to some folks and they brought it up in their meeting and were stoked about.

Since this piece came out there has been some pretty solid "human"-scale relationships between insurrectionary anarchists and port workers being forged through this struggle.

hi, thanks for posting here. A lot of us had already read your article, which someone posted on another thread. Please do keep us updated with what's going on in the dispute! (And while you probably have different political perspectives to me on some issues, I respect you going down there, talking to people, making links and then writing about it)

@theorynerd

13 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by @theorynerd on September 25, 2011

"Location: Civic Circle - Longview, WA by the Post Office
Time: ‎5:30PM Thursday, September 29th

Union, Non-union, Friends, Family, anyone and everyone who is disappointed with the way EGT has failed to follow through with their promises to our community and are upset with the way the police use intimidation, repression and violence to stamp out our resistance to corporate exploitation.

Bring your own: banners, signs, leaflets, posters, plans, voices and courage!"

.....Stuff some of us insurrectionary anarcho-primitivists of the Northwest and Longview Longshoremen are doing together. We suggested a demonstration for people from all over Washington to polarize around and now it's happening. So tell your contacts here in the PNW to come and organize around this.

Chilli Sauce

13 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Chilli Sauce on September 25, 2011

Probably a derail, but...

us insurrectionary anarcho-primitivists of the Northwest and Longview Longshoremen are doing together.

There's something wrong here. Supporting these workers (which is great!) goes against the basic principals of primitivism. If these workers win (which, again, would be great!) it supports the further existence of industrial society.

I hope the experience (and to be fair, it seems this is happening) off working with these industrial workers, helps our "insurrectionary anarcho-primitivist" friends to come around to a more class-based understanding of anarchism.

EDIT: I take Steven's point below and echo his advice.

Steven.

13 years 2 months ago

In reply to by libcom.org

Submitted by Steven. on September 25, 2011

Chilli, while I agree with your point, this thread is for discussion of the Washington longshore workers dispute. We don't want to derailed into a discussion about primitivism. If you would like to start a new thread for that discussion, then @theory nerd could respond to you there if she/he wishes. So please nobody respond to that post here.