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Militant/Mary Martin

From left, Randall Davis, Brian Pellham and Richard Hendricks picket November 19 outside EGT grain terminal in Longview, Wash., where bosses refuse to hire ILWU members.

EGT has refused to hire ILWU members in violation of an agreement with the Port of Longview and instead has hired members of Operating Engineers Local 701 at lower wages. West Coast ports have been worked by ILWU members for decades. If EGT prevails, Longview would be the only West Coast grain operation run without ILWU labor.

Picket lines went up in June. They are staffed by ILWU members from four locals: Local 21 in Longview; Local 8 in Portland, Ore.; Local 4 in Vancouver, Wash.; and Local 40, the ILWU clerks’ union for the local region, based in Portland. The Port of Longview has limited the number of pickets on port property to eight.

“The ILWU cannot lose this fight; we are in it to win it,” Dan Coffman, ILWU Local 21 president told the Militant.

Coffman went over a number of developments in December. EGT’s lawsuit for supposed “unfair labor practices” will be brought before a judge for the National Labor Arbitration Board. A number of trials of union members will take place at the Cowlitz County courthouse for trespass citations issued in the course of peaceful protests at the port. And EGT will try to bring its first ship into the port to receive grain. “The ILWU will protest when this happens,” Coffman said. “We have received pledges of support from many unions and from Occupy protesters who say they will join us.”

In solidarity with ILWU 21’s fight with EGT, Occupy Oakland protesters held a port shutdown action at the Port of Oakland November 2. Organizers of Occupy Oakland and Occupy Los Angeles are planning similar actions December 12 in solidarity with the ILWU, according to a press release posted on the Occupy Oakland website. “Our eyes are on the continued union-busting and attacks on organized labor,” it said. “In particular the rupture of Longshoremen jurisdiction in Longview Washington by the EGT.”

Local 21 officers have addressed Occupy Oakland protests in recent weeks and the Oakland Teachers Association.

On November 6 Coffman addressed a National Workers Rally of some 6,000 unionists in Tokyo. The rally was called to protest temporary work, privatization of the railroads, and inaction by the government toward those affected by the Fukushima nuclear reactor meltdown earlier this year. The day before, Coffman joined rail workers in Chiba City, Japan, who had delivered a letter of protest to the Itochu Corporation there in solidarity with the ILWU. Itochu is one of EGT’s owners.

ILWU members have been subjected to brutality by cops while engaged in peaceful protests at the Port of Longview. Incidents are well documented and the union has filed a civil suit against local police agencies.

The Kelso Longview Business Connection ran an open letter to “business leaders” by EGT’s CEO Larry Clarke in its October issue thanking local cops for defending EGT’s business interests in face of union protests. “We are sincerely grateful to local law enforcement for their efforts to help protect the safety and security of local workers on the site,” he stated.

“Who are the police here to protect? They serve the interests of the rich,” said Coffman. “Just look at how they treat the union members and the Occupy protesters.”

There has been no reply to the Militant’s request for an interview with Matthew Beck, EGT’s public information officer and an owner of the company.
 
 
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