Disclaimer The articles excerpted on this site report on the state of the industry as seen by mainstream media, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the officers of the ILWU Coast Longshore Division.
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 ILWU Local 21 rank and file members applaud International Pres. Robert McEllrath following the membership's unanimous vote to approve a settlement agreement with EGT on Tuesday, January 24, 2012. LONGVIEW, WA (January 27, 2012) — Today, the Port of Longview approved a settlement agreement with EGT and the ILWU settling unresolved legal issues between the parties. The Port also approved an amendment to its lease with EGT agreeing that EGT is no longer bound by the Port’s Working Agreement with ILWU Local 21. In exchange, EGT agreed that the ILWU/PMA Joint Dispatch Hall (Local 21) shall provide the labor for EGT’s facility at the Port of Longview, and agreed to a union card check procedure. If a majority of workers indicate their preference to be represented by ILWU Local 21 at the EGT facility, EGT and ILWU Local 21 expect to negotiate the details of a labor agreement for all landside and shipside operations.
ILWU Coast Committeeman Leal Sundet said, “In a unanimous vote on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, ILWU Local 21’s rank and file approved the legal settlement agreement and the steps forward. Today’s developments are a positive signal that the relationship between ILWU Local 21 and EGT is moving in the right direction.”
News release from the ILWU Coast Longshore Division
Wednesday night, commissioners representing the Port of St. Helens, which is on the Oregon side of the Columbia River across from Longview, approved lease options for Kinder Morgan and Ambre Energy subsidiary Pacific Transloading to operate two coal terminals at Port Westward.
Excerpts from the Daily News:
About 130 people packed into the Clatskanie Community Center to hear both proposals, which port commissioners cautioned are still in the preliminary stages. Both companies must still obtain building permits to move forward.
Ambre wants to start exporting 3.5 million tons of coal to Asia and later expand to 8 million tons. The company would unload coal from then Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana at Port Morrow in Central Oregon, then unload the cargo onto barges. Workers would then transfer the coal onto ocean vessels at Port Westward.
Kinder Morgan is hoping to build a $200 million coal export dock to ship about 15 million tons of coal annually to Asia, according to the port.
“What I see in this development is positive. We’re going to put people to work here,” said Dan Coffman, president of the ILWU’s Longview-based Local 21, which is negotiating with both companies to work on the docks.
Read the rest here
 ILWU Local 514 represents Ship and Dock Foremen at all British Columbian ports. Port Metro Vancouver pictured. Jan. 26: The Honourable Lisa Raitt, Canada’s Labour Minister, congratulated the BC Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 514 on reaching a tentative eight-year agreement. The ILWU’s unit of nearly 500 foremen have been without a collective agreement since March 31, 2010.
“With the global economy still recovering, our government is committed to protecting Canada’s economy,” said Minister Raitt. “I am pleased that the BCMEA and the ILWU Local 514 have worked together to establish a tentative collective agreement.”
Last year, the BCMEA and the ILWU, representing approximately 4,500 longshoremen, reached a historic eight-year agreement with the assistance of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.
“British Columbia’s ports and the people who keep them running play a vital role in the Canadian economy,” said Minister Raitt. “I look forward to the ratification of this agreement and am happy to say that these agreements will ensure the ports’ long-term labour stability and will assist in Canada’s economic recovery.”
The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service provides dispute resolution and prevention assistance to trade unions and employers under the jurisdiction of the Canada Labour Code.
News release issued by the Office of Minister Raitt
 AJC reports that 'Manufacturers have moved some production overseas to avoid the damage inflicted by the strong yen, a trend that has accelerated in recent years. Some economists say the trade balance will be in the black again within two years, but the era of very large surpluses that allowed Japan to build a huge pile of foreign reserves has ended.' The devastating March tsunami and shift of manufacturing overseas plunged Japan’s trade account into the red for the first time since 1980. Experts said the years of Japan running massive trade surpluses are likely over.
“It reflects fundamental changes in Japan’s economy, particularly among manufacturers,” said Hideki Matsumura, senior economist at Japan Research Institute. “Japan is losing its competitiveness to produce domestically.”
“It’s gotten difficult for manufacturers to export, so they’re they’ve moved production abroad so that products sold outside the country are made outside the country,” he said.
More at AJC
From the Daily News:
As word spread of Monday’s tentative settlement between the local longshore union and the EGT grain terminal, a giant wave of relief flowed across the community.
“It’s absolutely a Christmas present in January,” George Raiter, chairman of the Cowlitz County Board of Commissioners, said Monday afternoon.
The news also likely will cancel a large Occupy protest planned in Longview for whenever the first grain freighter arrived — but only if the local union accepts the settlement. Occupy members noted while the settlement is a good sign, there is no permanent contract yet.
Read the rest here
 An ILWU Local 4 longshore worker supports ILWU Local 21 by demonstrating for good union jobs near EGT in Longview, WA. This photo was taken in September 2011 by Don Ryan of the Associated Press and was widely published, including in Time Magazine. The Daily News in Longview has compiled the following list of events related to the struggle at the Port of Longview. We’ve started the list below, and you can click here to see the entire TDN report.
At the Aug. 4, 2009, groundbreaking for the $200 million EGT grain terminal at the Port of Longview, the construction was hailed as a boon for Longview and the region. Once EGT decided not to hire International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 21 workers, though, the project became contentious as pickets were staged outside — and sometimes inside — port property. Several months of stand-offs and numerous arrests followed:
July 14 – Hundreds block railroad tracks, BNSF suspends trains to EGT.
July 11 – 100 arrested after tearing down a chain link gate and protesting on EGT property.
June 3 – More than 1,000 protesters rally at EGT’s Portland headquarters.
May 20 – 150 stage an informational picket in Longview, urging EGT to hire ILWU workers.
See the rest of the year’s highlights here.
California’s exporters are expected to have a record year in 2011, surpassing the old mark set during 2008.
With December numbers still to be tallied, the state exported another $14.07 billion in goods in November, according to Beacon Economics’ monthly California Trade Report. That was a gain of 12.7% over the same month the previous year, the report said. It also brought the 2011 total to $145.81 billion.
More in the Los Angeles Times
Excerpts from an article in the Seattle Times called “Longview labor feud settled by union, grain exporter”:
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union has reached a tentative settlement on legal issues in a bitter labor dispute with Longview grain exporter EGT, according to Gov. Chris Gregoire.
“This is a win for the ILWU, EGT and the Longview community,” said ILWU President Robert McEllrath in a statement released through Gregoire’s office. “The ILWU has eight decades of grain export experience in the Northwest, and we look forward to the opportunity to develop a positive working relationship with EGT.”
“While the parties are still working to finalize certain conditions over the next several days, we are optimistic we can resolve the dispute and get on with the business of operating the facility,” said Larry Clarke, EGT’s chief executive officer.
Read the rest here
From Gov. Chris Gregoire’s office:
For Immediate Release: January 23, 2012
OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire today announced that EGT and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union reached a tentative settlement on pending legal issues surrounding labor disputes at EGT’s grain export facility in Longview.
“I asked EGT and ILWU to come together in a good faith effort to overcome their differences,” Gregoire said. “Both parties should be commended for their willingness to work together and compromise. This framework reflects considerable effort to put the interests of the Longview community and the entire Columbia River basin first. I am confident an agreement can be reached that will satisfy both parties and allow the new grain terminal to become fully operational.”
“We are pleased to announce that after a series of discussions convened by Governor Gregoire, the ILWU and EGT have reached a tentative settlement to resolve the pending legal matters between the parties and the Port of Longview,” said EGT CEO Larry Clarke. “While the parties are still working to finalize certain conditions over the next several days, we are optimistic we can resolve the dispute and get on with the business of operating the facility. From the beginning, we had two core goals – to operate this 21st Century facility safely and efficiently and to ensure the entire Longview Community shares in the economic benefits this facility will provide. We are optimistic this process will help us reach both of these objectives.”
“This is a win for the ILWU, EGT, and the Longview community,” said ILWU President Robert McEllrath. “I want to thank Governor Gregoire for her leadership in working with both parties to find common ground. The ILWU has eight decades of grain export experience in the Northwest, and we look forward to the opportunity to develop a positive working relationship with EGT.”
This most recent dismissal, one of many dismissals and jury acquittals, shows the county has been prosecuting longshore demonstrators without cause
The Cowlitz County Prosecuting Attorney dismissed trespassing and train obstruction charges against Longview longshore worker Darin Norton on Thursday. Norton, a member of ILWU Local 21, had been charged with those two offenses as a result of a demonstration against the multinational corporation EGT on September 7th. After police disrupted the peaceful protest, Cowlitz County officials arrested and charged dozens of ILWU members and supporters in the ensuing weeks with various offenses stemming from that demonstration.
Leal Sundet, ILWU Coast Committeeman, said: “The ILWU welcomes the dismissal of these charges against Mr. Norton. The prosecutors now see that there was no basis to file these charges to begin with, because the protestors were on public property, exercising their First Amendment rights. It is sad that Mr. Norton had to go through the stress and strain of a criminal prosecution.”
Norton did, however, enter a plea of guilty to the crime of resisting arrest, a charge arising when he was arrested on September 13th for the trespassing case. There are limited options for fighting this type of charge, which can be based simply on someone “tensing up” while being arrested. In this case, Norton admitted that he did not get out of his car immediately when told to by a police officer, which led to the officer pulling him out of the car and throwing him to the ground. “Nevertheless,” Sundet continued, “the prosecutor’s dismissal of the very charges that led to Mr. Norton’s arrest in the first place is a concession that there really was no crime committed on September 7th at all.”
Norton received a suspended sentence and is required to do a small amount of community service as a condition of his sentence. “Mr. Norton already is serving the community by fighting EGT’s attempt to destroy good wages for the families of Cowlitz County, so it is no burden at all for Mr. Norton to complete the community service hours,” Sundet said.
Seven other workers have pled guilty to minor charges in the past few days. Sundet said, “The prosecuting attorney has gotten desperate because she has no real evidence for which to prosecute these demonstrators, and she resorted to threats of additonal charges in order to wrestle guilty pleas from innocent workers.”
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International Transport Workers’ president and MUA (Maritime Union of Australia) general secretary Paddy Crumlin, and ITF general secretary David Cockroft on Thursday warned that the Port of Auckland is on the brink of being declared a ‘port of convenience’.
The warning came as the dispute between Auckland dockers and the ports company dragged into its fourth month, and Paddy Crumlin and David Cockroft sent the following message to Ports of Auckland company CEO Tony Gibson:
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) represents 690 unions in 155 countries. Our Dockers’ Section represents over 400,000 members in more than 200 major ports around the world.
We are aware of the grave situation facing our brothers and sisters in the Port of Auckland, where members of our affiliate, the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) have been monitoring events closely.
We know that negotiation on the renewal of the collective bargaining agreement began in September of last year. We know that the two parties involved were close to signing a new agreement and the MUNZ had agreed to an increase in the use of TRACC in a gesture that would contribute to improved performance in the port.
We are informed that POAL is now trying to remove the collective agreement with MUNZ. In our opinion, this constitutes a fundamental attack on trade union rights in the Port of Auckland.
We understand that the whole workforce of 300 dockworkers have been threatened with the loss of their employment if they do not sign up to a standard agreements outside the national union agreement.
The ITF considers this behaviour as an outrageous attack on basic trade union rights. If this attempt to force workers to abandon their existing agreements continues the ITF will declare the Port of Auckland a ‘Port of Convenience’ and will request our affiliates around the world, particularly in the Dockers and Seafarers Sections,
to take immediate lawful action.
We strongly urge you to enter into a genuine dialogue with the union to find an acceptable solution that is in the interest of all parties concerned.
We look forward to receiving your positive response and an acceptable resolution to the matter.”
See the fact sheet prepared by MUNZ and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions
Carpenters Local 156, longtime friends of Operating Engineers Local 701, has written the ILWU the following letter, which is worth reading start to finish:
Dear brothers and sisters:
We send this letter to express our support of your struggles with EGT in Longview. We are humbled by your passion and commitment to securing work for your members. All members and leaders in organized labor should take note of your efforts.
As members of the working class, we must stand together in all clashes between Labor and Employer. Labor must stop taking the wrong path as we have so many times in the past of fighting each other on behalf of the employing class. The struggle with EGT is a prime example. Early on, EGT was feeling pressure from all of labor for turning their back to the ILWU, but as we have all too often, and to our detriment, we have made this a fight of Labor versus Labor. This tactic by EGT has been played out by employers for all history and has been the leading cause of struggles of the Labor Movement.
The ILWU has been a beacon for all workers in the fight for a better life through conditions at work. The ILWU has long been the first members of Organized Labor to join a struggle and support workers around the world in their times of need. Now is the time for ALL of Organized Labor to stand with you in this time of need. The members of Carpenters Local 156 understand the gravity of this struggle as much more than gaining a few jobs for its members. This is a line in the sand where all of labor wakens to the attempt of the employing class to erode the rights and working conditions around the world by continuously pitting one group against another.
The members of Operating Engineers Local 701 have been the best friends and biggest supporters of Carpenters in Oregon and SW Washington. That relationship will continue as the members of Local 156 will support Local 701 in all of their struggles with management. With the benefit of this close relationship, we must be the ones to point out when one of us is choosing the wrong path. Local 156 appreciates the attempts of Local 701 to secure more work for its members. However, in this situation Local 701 is doing more harm long term, for its members and all the Labor Movement.
An injury to one is an injury to all. This must be something more than just a saying or a logo we print on stickers and shirts. When all of us in the struggle of the Working Class embrace this as a belief and not just a motto, refuse to take on a fight on behalf of Management, and make decisions with the concern for all in the Labor Movement, and not just in a short term benefit to a select few, as a goal, we will truly see the power we hold and the tremendous change we can affect with it.
Good luck in your continued struggle and best wishes for a positive outcome. Please know that you have the support and deepest gratitude of the members of Local 156 and all of us in the Labor Movement.
In solidarity,
Ben Basom
Recording Secretary
On behalf of the members and Executive Board of Carpenters Local 156
For more information:
 Longview Police Chief Jim Duscha falsely reported hostage-taking at EGT, a lie he backed away from after it had spread worldwide in the media. A trial date has been set in the federal civil rights case the longshore union filed against local law enforcement agencies — but it’s still more than a year away.
The jury trial is scheduled to start March 4, 2013, though both sides also have been ordered into mediation in hopes of settling the case out of court. Requiring a mediation attempt is standard in federal cases. No date for the mediation has been set because both sides want to gather more information first, according to recent U.S. District Court filings in Tacoma.
 On Cowlitz County Sheriff Mark Nelson's watch, officers like this one have been 'acting with aggression, brutality and force when arresting members for non-violent misdemeanors without probable cause for such force and without having a reasonable suspicion that the members or supporters posed an immediate or credible threat or injury to law enforcement or any other person,' according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed in September, names Cowlitz County Sheriff Mark Nelson and Longview Police Chief Jim Duscha, as well as the county and city. It claims that law enforcement violated the civil rights of International Longshore and Warehouse Union members last summer and fall during protests directed at the EGT grain terminal in Longview.
For more information:
Photos by the Daily News and the Associated Press.
We are very sorry to report on our fallen brother in Long Beach. From CBS Los Angeles:
A longshoreman was killed Thursday when he was pinned beneath a fallen container on a ship at the Port of Long Beach.
Around 7 p.m. the Long Beach Fire Department received a report of a person possibly trapped beneath a container on board a ship.
A crane operator reportedly dropped the container on his boss by accident.
Harbor Patrol was at the scene and an investigation was underway.
The victim’s identity was not being released.
Longshore and Shipping News does not advertize. CBS placed an ad at the beginning of its news segment.
 More than 104,000 travelers arrived in the islands on cruise ships — mostly from the West Coast — in the first 11 months of last year, according to the most recent data available. That’s a 14.5 percent increase from the same period in 2010. There were 59 cruise liners that pulled into Hawaii ports during that time, an increase of 11.3 percent.
There are several reasons for the growth, industry experts say, including the presence of more cruise ships in the Pacific and a fear among some travelers of ongoing drug-cartel related violence in Mexico.
Read the rest in the Washington Post
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