The international president of the longshore union is back on trial in connection with last year’s labor dispute, three months after his last District Court trial ended in a hung jury.
Robert McEllrath of San Francisco, international president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, is charged with obstructing a train — a misdemeanor — on Sept. 7, 2011
Prosecutors said he directed members of ILWU Local 21 and their supporters to block a train delivering grain to the EGT grain terminal at the Port of Longview. The ILWU maintains that union members were engaged in their legal right to protest. At the time, EGT and Local 21 were in a dispute over EGT’s refusal to hire union dockworkers.
In a two-day trial in June that was attended by longshore workers from around the world, the jury failed to reach a verdict.
