Dockers in the Pacific Northwest of America have been locked out of their port as a dispute over contract negotiations escalates.
Columbia Grain, owned by Japanese company Marubeni, is preventing members of ITF-affiliate the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) from doing their jobs at the Port of Portland in Oregon amidst accusations that they are ‘gaming the system’ through slow down action.
The lockout began on Saturday morning, May 4, and is a similar action to that taken against ILWU members in Vancouver, Washington who have been locked out by their employer United Grain Corp, owned by another Japanese conglomerate Mitsui, since the end of February. Both Columbia Grain and United Grain are members of a bargaining group pushing the ILWU to accept a substandard agreement for workers in the Pacific Northwest after their existing contract expired in September last year. The parties have had a collective bargaining agreement since the 1930’s.
Workers picketed outside the port in Portland following the imposition of the lockout. Meanwhile a protest was held in Vancouver by workers on May 1. Find out more details >> (http://www.itfglobal.org/news-online/index.cfm/newsdetail/8954/region/1/section/0/order/1)
Bruce Holte, president of ILWU Local 8, said Columbia Grain hired replacement workers last fall, when contract talks were in early stages, showing that the company never intended to reach agreement. "Unfortunately, Marubeni-Columbia Grain has done what it's wanted to do all along, and locked out local workers who have made this company profitable for decades. Rather than reach a fair agreement, the company has hired an out-of-state strike-breaking firm, attorneys and a publicist to make allegations against local workers who simply want to do our jobs and support our community."
