Longshoremen clash shuts Northwest ports

A union sign left from Wednesday's clash between police and union workers is seen in the grass and dirt as police patrol an entrance at the Port of Longview in Longview, Wash., Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011. Hundreds of Longshore workers stormed the Port of Longview early Thursday, overpowered and held security guards, damaged railroad cars, and dumped grain that is the center of a labor dispute, said Longview Police Chief Jim Duscha.


By Nancy Bartley and Mike Carter, The Seattle Times

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Work is at a standstill at some Northwest seaports, including Seattle, as a long-simmering labor dispute turned violent Thursday morning.

At least 500 longshoremen stormed the Port of Longview, Wash., about 4:30 a.m. and broke out windows in the guard shack, according to Longview Police Chief Jim Duscha. As longshoremen wielding baseball bats and crowbars held six guards hostage, others cut brake lines on box cars and dumped grain, according to Duscha.

Fifty police officers from surrounding areas responded to the scene. No one was injured, and there were no arrests Thursday morning, Duscha said.

Roy San Filippo, spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, said the incident started Wednesday afternoon when police pepper-sprayed, struck longshoremen with clubs and “manhandled” ILWU President Robert McEllrath after the union members blocked a train on its way into the EGT Terminal at the Port of Longview. Police arrested 19 longshoremen on Wednesday.

“If he (McEllrath) was one of the crowd that surged forward, some of them were sprayed. When it’s 400 against 20, what are you going to do?” Duscha said. He said he didn’t know anything about reports that police had hit protesters with clubs.

When the longshoremen stormed the terminal Thursday morning, police were “not surprised,” Duscha said. “A lot of the protesters were telling us this is only the start.”

One police sergeant was threatened with a baseball bat and retreated, Duscha said. “One officer with hundreds of Longshoremen? He used the better part of discretion.”

There have been other incidents throughout the summer, police said, including the arrest of seven longshoremen in July for blocking a train, but San Filippo said Wednesday’s incident sparked the wildcat walk-out of Longshoremen at some Northwest ports and the destruction of property Thursday morning at the Longview port. Longshoremen were out Thursday at the Washington ports of Anacortes, Tacoma, Everett and Seattle. Port spokesmen said they have no information about when Longshoremen may return to work.

Tensions between the ILWU and EGT Development, the owner of the new train superterminal, have run hot for the past few months after contract negotiations broke down. EGT, which is jointly owned by Korean, Japanese and U.S. investors, contracted with International Union of Operating Engineers Local 701, based in Gladstone, Ore., to fill the 25 to 35 jobs at the terminal. But the Port of Longview has a contract for ILWU to do the work.

EGT sued the port in U.S. District Court in January seeking the right to pursue its own contract. EGT wants its own people — specially trained to work in the $200 million terminal and capable of unloading a 110-car train in less than four hours.

According to the lawsuit, “The lease did not impose any obligation whatsoever upon EGT to utilize union labor at the terminal, much less obligate EGT to utilize persons who are represented by Local 21 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.”

The Port of Longview disputes this, saying it had a working agreement with the union that EGT knew about when it began negotiating the lease in 2007.

“If you disagree, then we have a serious dispute” that needs to be addressed in court, wrote Port Executive Director Kenneth B. O’Hollaren in court documents.

“The Longshoremen are fighting for good middle-class jobs at the grain-handling terminal,” San Filippo said.

A federal restraining order was issued against the Longshoremen last week because the union had made death threats and was accused of assaults, Duscha said.

On Thursday, police remained at the terminal trying to assess the damage, Duscha said. After the protest, the Longshoremen returned to their union hall and set off fireworks, Duscha said.

At the union offices in Longview, the doors were locked and people who occasionally left the building declined to talk to reporters, though one complained of slanted media coverage.

“We held six people hostage? Come on,” that man said.


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