In an article called “Local 701 gives its side of EGT debate in letter to commissioners,” the Daily News reports that Operating Engineers Local 701 wrote a letter to Cowlitz County leaders on October 5. Excerpts from the article:
The letter to commissioners is an attempt to get the operating engineers’ side of the story to local officials, Nelda Wilson, the union’s assistant business manager, said Friday afternoon.
The letter details operating engineer work dredging the Columbia and Cowlitz rivers, helping build the interstate highway system. It also states the union’s members helped clean up and rebuild bridges and roads after the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption, including Spirit Lake Memorial Highway to Johnston Ridge.
ILWU officials said Friday that their beef isn’t with the operating engineers.
“Operating Engineers Local 701 and their employer, General Construction, is not an issue for the ILWU in this dispute,” said Leal Sundet, ILWU coast committeeman. “The ILWU’s dispute is directly with EGT.”