United Grain Corp. on Wednesday locked out the International Longshore and Warehouse Union from its export terminal in Vancouver, Wash., charging that a member of the Labor Relations Committee at ILWU Local 4 attempted to sabotage equipment at the facility.
The incident comes at the same time that another terminal operator, TEMCO, and the ILWU ratified a five-year interim collective bargaining agreement covering three TEMCO grain terminals in Portland, Ore., Tacoma and Kalama, Wash.
The ILWU called United Grain’s charges “unfounded,” and charged that the company used the investigator’s report to accomplish its goal of locking out the union. United Grain and the ILWU had negotiated for months on a new contract and failed to reach agreement.