ILWU International Vice President Ray Familathe speaks at the ILWU rally at EGT offices in Portland. Bill Wagner photo.
Excerpts from the Daily News in Longview:
More than 1,000 union longshoremen and supporters rallied outside the headquarters of grain company EGT Development Friday afternoon, demanding the company hire union labor to operate the grain terminal it is building at the Port of Longview. The protesters traveled from as far away as Los Angeles.
“We have been left out of the loop. It’s total union solidarity to stop corporate greed,” said Dan Coffman, president of ILWU Local 21.
EGT is owned by St. Louis-based Bunge North America, Japan-based Itochu Corp. and Korean shipper Pan Ocean STX. The company and ILWU negotiators have not met for two months, Coffman said.
Port of Longview attorneys are asking Judge Ronald B. Leighton to require EGT to hire union labor. A non-jury trial is scheduled for April 2012 — months after the terminal is scheduled to start operating.
In the meantime, the ILWU is marshaling its forces for a fight. At Friday’s rally, more than a dozen ILWU locals from Washington, Oregon and California were joined by union carpenters and other union trade workers. Union leaders say EGT officials are trying to undercut their right to collectively bargain, and they fear it could spread throughout the West Coast.
“Organized labor these days is under tremendous attack,” said Ray Familathe, ILWU international vice president, who flew in from union headquarters in San Francisco to attend the rally.
Scott Mason, president of Tacoma-based ILWU local 23, said, “EGT would like to be the Walmart of the grain business and force everyone else into their agenda.”