Vol. 76/No. 26      July 16, 2012

They came to show support for ILWU President Robert McEllrath, who was tried on charges stemming from protests last September against the EGT Development Corp.’s refusal to hire ILWU workers in its facility.

The theme of the rally was “President McEllrath says, it shouldn’t be a crime to fight for good jobs.”

McEllrath and hundreds of workers stood on railroad tracks to stop a train from entering EGT’s grain terminal. He was charged with obstructing a train, a criminal misdemeanor. After two days the jury came back without a unanimous verdict, resulting in a mistrial.

EGT and Local 21 reached an agreement in February allowing ILWU members to work in the grain terminal after nearly eight months of protests, rallies and picketing by the union.

Along with Local 21 members and activists of its Ladies Auxiliary from Longview, there were ILWU members present from Seattle, Tacoma, and Vancouver, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; and Los Angeles.

International delegations stood outside the courthouse with banners and flags. They included nine members of the Maritime Union of Australia; two from the Maritime Union of New Zealand; nine from the ILWU in Vancouver, British Columbia; and unionists from Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom and Belgium.

Afterward, Dan Coffman, president of ILWU Local 21, welcomed the international delegation at the union hall, where several spoke.

Gary Parsloe, president of MUNZ, spoke about his union’s contract negotiations with the Port of Auckland. “The port wants the right to hire non-union contract workers and that will only split the workforce,” he said. “In addition, they want what they call flex hours where you stay by your phone and wait for a call to work. You have no regular schedule and are at the beck and call of the bosses.”

Karen East, a seafarer from Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia and member of the MUA, explained how the ILWU had backed them in their disputes and they were here to offer the same kind of solidarity.

During the jury selection the judge and prosecuting attorney for the state of Washington both tried to impress prospective jurors that their job was to make sure the law was followed, no matter how sympathetic they felt with the ILWU, and that people who broke the law needed to be “held accountable.”

Questions directed at the jury pool by the prosecution included, “Have you ever been a member of a union?” and “Have you ever taken part in a protest?” Many of the jurors admitted to being union members and several indicated they had been in protests. A retired Weyerhaeuser worker in Longview said, “I was a union man for 40 years and yes, I’ve stopped a few trains in my day.”

During the union struggle, dozens of workers were arrested and charged, as local authorities backed the bosses.

Many of these cases resulted in acquittals or dismissals. There were also some plea bargain agreements where unionists pled guilty and received sentences of up to 30 days in jail, community service and payment of fines.

At least one more trial remains. In late August, Sonny Halliday will be tried on trumped-up felony charges of endangering a train and its crew during the September protests. Halliday was at work operating a log loader while the protest took place on the other side of the fence from where he was working.
 
 
Related articles:
Sugar workers reject bosses’ demands for third time
Workers fight Con Ed lockout in NY: ‘No more takebacks!’
On the Picket Line
 
 
 
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