From the Associated Press:

A federal judge has reopened the dispute over which union workers at the Port of Portland should perform the task of plugging and unplugging refrigerated cargo containers.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mosman ruled Monday that the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C., overstepped its authority last August when it awarded the work to union electricians instead of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union.

The Pacific Maritime Association successfully argued the NLRB does not have jurisdiction in a disagreement in which one group of workers is employed by a government agency — the Port of Portland.

Leal Sundet, an ILWU coast committeeman, said in a statement that Mosman’s decision “confirms what the union has been saying all along — that the board’s authority is limited, and that in this case it should have respected our internal dispute resolution process.”

Read the full article at the San Francisco Chronicle