No immediate lockout, grain shippers say
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Pacific Northwest grain shippers say there will be no immediate lockout at a half-dozen terminals along the Columbia River and on Puget Sound.
The owners had given the International Longshore and Warehouse Union until midnight Wednesday to accept what they describe as their "last, best and final" offer. But Pat McCormick, a spokesman for the owners, said there would be no midnight lockout. Instead, the owners will respond Thursday to comments received from ILWU representatives about the offer.
"I don't expect any job actions on either side in the near term," he said.
No additional face-to-face talks have been scheduled between the union and the Pacific Northwest Grain Handlers Association, the consortium of grain-shipping companies that operate facilities in Portland, Seattle, Tacoma, Wash., and Vancouver, Wash.
A disruption in the shipment of wheat, corn and soybeans to Asia would present a headache to farmers from as far away as the Midwest. More than a quarter of all U.S. grain exports and nearly half of U.S. wheat exports move through nine Pacific Northwest grain terminals.
The union has said it hopes the grain industry will avoid "the aggressive option of a disruptive lockout" and return to the negotiating table. Salary and benefits have not been the holdup during talks. Rather, the owners want to implement workplace rules they consider more advantageous.
"We obviously do not want the profitable grain companies to gamble with our lives, yet their 'last, best and final offer' rejects our safety code that was built over 80 years in the blood of workers killed on the job, and that many other waterfront employers follow," union spokeswoman Jennifer Sargent said.
The dispute involves six terminals that operate under a single collective bargaining agreement with the ILWU. The last contract expired Sept. 30.
The other Northwest terminals — based in the Washington cities of Longview and Kalama — operate under separate agreements with the ILWU. Representatives from the Grain Handlers Association have said since the start of negotiations that they are at a competitive disadvantage because the longshoremen at their terminals have more favorable workplace rules than those in Kalama and Longview.
The contract offer, a copy of which was leaked to The Oregonian newspaper, would take away some perks and grievance procedures. Other concessions include letting employers go to court to end work stoppages immediately and allowing supervisors to perform work during health-and-safety disputes, or if the union hiring hall can't supply enough qualified grain handlers.
The union said it doesn't consider the talks at an impasse and has offered additional negotiating dates.
"The union has been extraordinarily flexible in our attempts to reach an agreement with the multinational grain industry," Sargent said. "We've offered shift extensions, wage freezes, a rollover of our current agreement, and many more attempts to keep the grain flowing."
One of the grain shippers — Columbia Grain — is a tenant at the Port of Portland, and the contract dispute is the third labor issue to hit the port since June.
On Saturday, port officials and union leaders who represent marine terminal security guards narrowly averted a strike that would have effectively shut down three terminals.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
The longshoreman need to Strike! Strike! Strike! and get that fine PR representative back out in front of the camera's. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO7XFj2xVdM
Fire them all! Their selfish opportunism is affecting countless others throughout the region, directly and indirectly. I have always been a supporter of unions and I always will. But this is reckless and irresponsible blackmail. If they are not happy with their $98,000 salaries, there are thousands of highly qualified citizens who happily take their place. Out with the riffraff! Â
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"Salary and benefits have not been the hold up during talks"Â I guess $98,000/yr (according to the Oregonian) is just enough to put food on the table but having to put in more than 40 minutes per hours is just too much for a working stiff to bear.
"Salary and benefits have not been the holdup during talks. Rather, the owners want to implement workplace rules they consider more advantageous." So greed is not the issue here, rather concerns of safety and security.
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In 1985, Meat cutting was one of the safest occupations in unionized America (source: OSHA). It also paid the US median wage to union members with four years seniority ($34,185, source US Dept of Labor). In that year, the meat packers adopted a union-busting strategy with the assistance of the Reagan and Bush I administrations, and today the union represents only about 4% of the workers in the industry.
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Meat cutting now pays less then $24,000 annually, and is the third most dangerous occupation in the US. (Same sources.) It also largely employs illegal aliens who are routinely turned over to ICE if injured on the job.
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Whenever I see that the issue is rules and not money, I would see giant red flags if I was a worker.
 @ShallowEnder Safety first. Yeah, that's it. It's funny when I hear people pull out the "safety card".  $98,000/yr average? Are you kidding me? If they want to work only 20 minutes of every half-hour, let them get paid 2/3 of their salary. I guarantee it wouldn't be a "safety" issue.
If this apple crate is upset, the port of weirdland will feel the hurt...My advice to the worker's is "get over yourselves".
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I remember this same scene in Kodiak harbor, King crab fishing... if drinking in local bars on your off time...someone was waiting and hoping to have your job. ..with a Louisville slugger. Â
And all of the grain is GMO which is poisoning everyone!
"Third labor dispute.........since summer" Shut down the port, file bankruptcy and have the labor contracts rejected. And let these extortionists go look for jobs elsewhere.
 @Rob C 503 I would agree with you 100%, however the ILWU is actually a good thing to a point. The point is work down on the waterfront is not steady. If the ILWU were to disappear, there would not be enough work to keep others employed long enough to be trained to do the work. It doesn't make sense, but since you can go several months without steady pay if you work on the waterfront. The ILWU basically provides a steady labor ready service that is able to do the specialized work over and over again, both at the grain elevators and elsewhere at the port. This has to be the one and only union in the US that is essentially an organized labor ready service.