Japanese union leader supports US dockers as lockout continues

Dockers at the Port of Vancouver have now been prevented from working for three months by their employer United Grain Corp, a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Mitsui, and for four months from Columbia Grain, owned by Japanese company Marubeni.
 
The ITF has lodged a formal complaint with the companies and over nine thousand people have joined a LabourStart e-protest campaign which calls on Mitsui to drop their aggressive tactics against ITF-affiliate union the ILWU (International Longshore and Warehouse Union). The ITF believes this action has been taken in a bid to pressure the union into accepting a substandard agreement in ongoing negotiations over a new grain contract following the expiration of the existing one last year.
 
Fusao Ohori, a representative of ITF-affiliate the All-Japan Seamen’s Union based in Tokyo, joined union dockworkers on Friday in Vancouver and Portland, and read a statement saying the ILWU faces difficulties "due to unjust treatment and demands by terminal companies in the Pacific Northwest." He also announced a $10,000 donation to the union fund which the ILWU says will "help defray the costs of the lockout, including provisions for the picket line, legal representation, fliers and signs."
 
The visit follows a series of meetings organised by the National Federation of Dockworkers' Unions of Japan (ZENKOKU-KOWAN) on 30 May with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan, the Japanese Business Council and the Grain Division of Mitsui’s Head office.  During these meetings, the president of ZENKOKU-KOWAN, Kinichiro Itoya, led a delegation of top Japanese dockers’ leaders in voicing concerns over the behavior of these companies and expressing solidarity with ILWU members. The delegation included the head of the ITF’s Tokyo office, Katsuji Taki and dockers’ section secretary, Sharon James.
 
International vice president of the ILWU Ray Familathe said: “The ongoing solidarity of unions around the world is crucial as this dispute continues. We hope that the huge Japanese companies involved will take note that unions from their own country are taking significant steps to support ILWU members on the ground. We want them to come to their senses so that port workers can get back to their jobs.”

You can support workers in Vancouver by visiting the LabourStart campaign page