Security guards set to strike at Port of Portland
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Port of Portland has endured a triple play of labor problems this year, and it's now preparing for its first longshore union strike in decades.
Marine terminal security guards represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union plan to strike Sunday because contract talks that began in June 2011 have failed to yield an agreement. The longshoremen who load and unload ships are expected to honor the picket line, effectively closing three terminals.
State mediator Robert Nightingale joins talks Saturday in a final effort to avoid a work stoppage that would disrupt the flow of shipping containers, auto imports and other cargo.
The strike possibility has led some businesses to use ports on Puget Sound, and shipping lines were evaluating whether to bypass the city. When ships are diverted and cargo rerouted, that adds costs, and potentially harmful delays for imports or exports of perishable or seasonal items.
The long-range concern is some shippers might permanently skip the port because of the labor issues. Portland's Terminal 6 is by far the smallest of the West Coast's six container-shipping ports, and it's already at a disadvantage with other Pacific ports because it's about 100 miles from the ocean.
"As long as it's a temporary disruption and we don't lose any shippers, or we don't lose any manufacturing expansions as a result of their fear that they can't move their goods, we'll be OK," state economist Mark McMullen said. "As long as it's short term, it should just be a disruption and not a disaster."
The sides agree on most aspects of a contract, but workers want an assurance their jobs won't disappear if terminal operators or carriers want to hire their own, lower-cost security personnel. Port officials believe companies would be more likely to do business in Portland if they're not handcuffed to job guarantees.
"They'd probably call it a job guarantee; we characterize it as an outsourcing problem," union spokesman Craig Merrilees said.
The pending strike is just one of three separate labor conflicts at the Port of Portland.
The first began this summer when the ILWU and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers clashed over which union should have the job of plugging and unplugging refrigerated shipping containers. The National Labor Relations Board and a federal judge concluded that longshoremen engaged in slowdown tactics during the dispute, causing truck traffic to be backed up for more than a mile.
Two major shipping lines that use Terminal 6 — Germany's Hapag-Lloyd AG and South Korea's Hanjin — briefly diverted ships during the tension. Though the National Labor Relations Board eventually concluded the work belongs to the electrical workers, the longshore union continues to fight for the jobs.
Separately, in a standoff that involves several ports, the union contract between longshoremen and companies that operate grain terminals on Columbia River and Puget Sound expired Sept. 30. The companies have made what they say is their last offer, and are awaiting a response.
A strike or lockout would disrupt trans-Pacific grain shipments, affecting U.S. farmers export wheat, corn and soybeans to Asia.
But the current focus is on 25 security guards from Local 28, and how longshoremen would respond to their walkout.
In a failed attempt to win in emergency injunction preventing a strike, port lawyers said this week that, in 2011, marine cargo at Portland Harbor generated $6.2 billion in total economic activity in the region and supported about 18,000 jobs. They warned that farmers wouldn't be able to export perishable products during a strike and mills that depend on steel scrap might have to close.
"The port believes that a strike would have a great negative impact on our local economy, and we're going to continue all efforts to avoid that strike, including mediation, arbitration and all the routes we have," said Kama Simonds, a port spokesman.
Merrilees said the union is also anxious to get a deal done, but the guards feel the port's offer "is the beginning of a race to the bottom."
"The port is a source of good-paying, blue-collar jobs that are increasingly hard to find," he said. "The port should be standing up and advocating for those jobs."
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
Real simple: there a a lot of unemployed but qualified security personnel in the Portland metro area, and the Port is one of the best-paying gigs around. Fire these 25 slackers if they don't show up for work, and anybody else that refuses to do their job, and hire folks that will be glad to have employment in this rotten economy!
meh, lets just ignore it. let the strikers and such have there privacy .
@lee986321 why?
Good, It will give them something to do...
Let the strike begin. The longshoremen need more publicity in the public light. Hopefully the longshoremen will have their spokes person(s) available to talk to reporters. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO7XFj2xVdMÂ
Let us commence a journey into the much-traveled topic of Union goon's unendurable attempts to spread overbearing views. Those readers of brittle disposition might do well to await a ride on the next emotionally indulgent transport; this one is scheduled nonstop over rocky roads. As soon as you're strapped in I'll announce something to the effect of how we definitely can't afford to let Union goon use our weaknesses to its advantage. What I'm suggesting is that we treat the disease, not the symptoms. That's the key to bringing fresh leadership and even-handed tolerance to the present controversy, and it's the only way that most people will ever learn that I will never give up. I will never stop trying. And I will use every avenue possible to begin the invigorating, rejuvenating process of telling Union goon what we all think of itâand boy, do I have some choice words I'd like to use.Â
Rather than pick out appropriate verbs and nouns, Union goon pads all of its sentences with extra syllables to grant them an atmosphere of authority. I, on the other hand, prefer to use simple language to express the sentiment that Union goon is trying to shatter and ultimately destroy our most precious possessions. Their mission? To siphon away the more beautiful and fragile parts of the human soul.Â
When Union goon's apothegms are challenged, it usually responds by undermining serious institutional and economic analyses and replacing them with a diverting soap opera of unconscionable conspiracies. Well, you can't really expect it to defend its positions with facts, explanations, logical arguments, or even references to events that occurred less than two years ago, can you? Should we sit back and let Union goon restructure the social, political, and economic relationships that exist throughout our entire society, or should we lay out some ideas and interpretations that hold the potential for insight? That choice sure sounds like a no-brainer to me.Â
An ancient Greek once wrote something to the effect of, "Its fixation with cranky yokels is muzzy-headed." Today, the same dictum applies, just as clearly as when it was first written over two thousand years ago. The interesting point is this: Union goon maintains that a totalitarian dictatorship is the best form of government we could possibly have. Perhaps it would be best for it to awaken from its delusional, narcoleptic fantasyland and observe that a civilization that lets it place gin-swilling maniacs at the head of a nationwide kakistocracy is a civilization that purchases its own spiritual death on an installment plan. For that reason, it has been brought to my attention that I, hardheaded cynic that I am, don't care a brass farthing about what Union goon thinks of me. While this is unquestionably true, if it turns out that there's no way to prevent Union goon from burning its enemies at the stake then I guess it'll be time to throw my cards on the table and call it quits. I'll just have to give up trying to tell it like it is and accept the fact that it used to complain about being persecuted. Now Union goon is our primary persecutor. This reversal of roles reminds me that I will stop at nothing to beat it at its own game. My resolve cannot fully be articulated, but it is unyielding. As evidence, consider that there are two observations that one can make here. The first is that the confluence of materialism and caciquism in Union goon's nostrums ensures a swirling river of discontent upon which Union goon so peremptorily rides. The second observation is that we live in a deeply troubled society. These shards of empirical evidence suggest that its winged monkeys are quick to point out that because it is hated, persecuted, and repeatedly laughed at, Union goon is the real victim here. The truth is that, if anything, Union goon is a victim of its own successâa success that enables Union goon to trick us into trading freedom for serfdom.Â
Union goon's chargés d'affaires all have serious personal problems. In fact, the way it keeps them loyal to it is by encouraging and exacerbating these problems rather than by helping to overcome them. Union goon is hopelessly in love with the sound of its own voice. If you'll forgive my parrhesia, I'd like to add that the gloss that its fans put on its projects unfortunately does little to reach out to the poor, the marginalized, and those unfortunate enough to have been labeled as smarmy by Union goon's propaganda machine. It's unmistakably a tragedy that Union goon's goal in life is apparently to cause riots in the streets. Here, I use the word "tragedy" as the philosopher Whitehead used it. Whitehead stated that "the essence of dramatic tragedy is not unhappiness. It resides in the solemnity of the remorseless working of things," which I interpret as saying that Union goon insists that it has no choice but to conspire with evil. Its reasoning is that clericalism is a beautiful entelechy that makes us whole. Yes, I realize that that argument makes no sense, but Union goon says that it can scare us by using big words like "succinylsulphathiazole". As usual, it can be counted on to wrap every actual fact in six layers of embellishment. The truth is that if the only way to give our young people the values that will inspire them to bring meaning, direction, and purpose into our lives is for me to put myself in harm's way, then so be it. It would surely be worth it because it finds reality too difficult to swallow. Or maybe it just gets lost between the sports and entertainment pages. In either case, a bunch of unsympathetic mouthpieces for brassbound, stuporous credentialism have recently been accused of breaking down traditional values. Union goon's fingerprints are all over that operation. Even if it turns out that it is not ultimately responsible for instigating it, the sheer amount of its involvement demands answers. For instance, why do Union goon's idolators want to ingratiate themselves with Union goon? Whenever that question is asked, Union goon and its worshippers run and hide. I suspect that that's precisely what they're going to do now so as to avoid hearing me say that I have a plan to free people from the fetters of hoodlumism's poisonous embrace. I call this plan "Operation call for proper disciplinary action against Union goon and its thralls". (Granted, I need a shorter, catchier name, but that one will do for now.) My plan's underlying motif is that we must tear down Union goon's fortress of faddism. Those who claim otherwise do so only to justify their own irritating pleas. In conclusion, let me just say that you don't know how tempted I am to sue the stuffing out of Union goon.
 ILWU Local 28 represents security employees at the Port of Portland. We have no relationship with the longshore/IBEW labor dispute at T6, or with the longshore grain elevator dispute at T5. Our union members run their own union local and are dedicated employees of the Port. Port marine security officers primarily come from the military, Coast Guard, and law-enforcement backgrounds, with several having served in Iraq and Afghanistan. As for this labor dispute, the union and the Port are in general agreement on wage and benefits but the Port refuses to consider any language that would discourage the Port from renegotiating their lease with their lessee in order to eliminate Port security officers at T6, where half of our union members are employed. Because we believe that ICTSI, the Port's lessee at T6, will replace us with minimum wage private security, our members are unwilling to accept a contract without that protection. This issue is critical for our union members. The only thing the Port was willing to offer in response to our proposal was a better severance package. That is unacceptable and disheartening. Many Port security officers have worked their entire adult lives at the Port with two originally hired in 1978. The Port's 25-year lease with ICTSI provides that the Port will provide security at T6 while expressly forbidding ICTSI from contracting with non-Port employed security. We were satisfied with that protection until the Port threatened to fire our members by renegotiating that lease.Port security officers are not just "guards" as reported in the media. We are not longshoremen; we are protective service workers along with our brothers and sisters at other Ports, hospitals, and convention centers. Port of Portland security is part of the Port's Public Safety Department, which includes Aviation Police and Fire. It is a highly trained workforce, and with our colleagues in the Customs and Border Protection agency, is charged with protecting the seaport from terrorist threats. We are certified through federal regulation, the United States Coast Guard, and Oregon DPSST. Our officers have been involved in life-threatening incidents including one officer who was shot three years ago while patrolling a dock where thefts had occurred. In the last year, The Portland Police SERT team has twice been activated at the seaport to handle armed conflicts. We have provided security for presidential visits, along with various state and federal congressional and senate representatives. Aside from that critical function, our members issue Department of Homeland Security DOS protocols to foreign flagged ships arriving at the seaport, inter-phase with their crew, and work with the Columbia River Pilots to "berth" the vessels, which involves assisting the pilot in their river approach the dock and locating the ship precisely so that it's cargo can be safely and effectively loaded and unloaded. This labor action is very difficult for our union and our members in it. But the renegotiation of the Port lease with ICTSI would possibly result in half the Port security workforce being discharged. That is unacceptable for us. We will meet with the Port on Saturday and are cautiously optimistic that together, the Port and our union can reach an agreement and avoid a strike on Sunday.
@Christopher Kaegi that's great. Good for you. In the meantime, you're holding all of the businesses and consumers and communities who require that port hostage.
 @Christopher Kaegi There is no justification for this strike. If the union is afraid of losing jobs then it should do what it needs to do keep up with its competition. A strike is just holding the employer hostage and fosters more ill will between management, employees and the general public who will, no doubt, feet the long term economic pain of a damaged port economy. But then you and the sympathetic unions all know that because it is your bread and butter.
Unions had their era and provided society with good fruits. Unfortunately that era is long gone and today's unions exist to only serve themselves and in so doing are destroying economies across the country..
 @Christopher Kaegi Here is the real problem guys.  I personally know the owner of this port.  (An american who lives in the phillipenes)  The Port of Portland is a drop in the bucket as far as his business is concerned.  He will actually CLOSE the port down if these problems persist.  it's already been stated that all the product that would appear in our port will instead be delivered to to his larger ports in Seattle and L.A.
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Take it from a guy on the inside. Â This union garbage will result in the Port of Portland being closed down. Â It won't be sold, but the entire operation WILL be uprooted from here and transferred elsewhere. Â T6 will be just a memory if this continues to persist.
@Christopher Kaegi ......."result in half the port security workforce being discharged". GOOD !! Then have the other half discharged and start all over with non union, non extortionist people who want to wrk and don't need organized crime for protection.
Myself and about a dozen other people have the training, certification and availability to do this--they're Iraq vets working part time in security and very underemployed--but it would take body armor (which we have) to defend ourselves from the union goons. Sorry, Oregon. There's nothing we can do.
i have some samolian friends who said without the security guards to worry about they might commandeer a vessel coming to port for ransom . security is tighter in the red sea than it is around here anyway
It's too bad that the Unions bought and paid for our sock puppet Governor Kitzhaber or perhaps he would have the cojones to do the right thing and Fire every one of the striking Union guards. Is it pure greed that runs these Union members lives or just shear stupidity? Have these morons not realized what Obama has done to our economy? Has their lust for money clouded their thinking so badly that they cannot see the recession so obviously certain? They should kiss their padded chairs and fat benefits packages and be glad they still have a job to go to. Typical Union mindset (shared by Liberals) is that everyone owes them everything, in return for nothing.Â
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And where's the 'Butcher of Benghazi" (Obama) on all of this Union BS, isn't he their leader?
@last boyscout When you start using partisan buzzwords like "liberals" and spouting divisive stereotypes, people quickly realize you don't actually know anything about what you're talking about.
 @altannuisance For the sake of argument, if  "using partisan buzzwords" is proof of ones lack of knowledge, then the best example of a feeble mind would be Barack Obama. How often did he say during his campaign of (three years plus) that it all can be blamed on:  Bush, the last eight years, the Congress, the Tea Party, the Republicans, Big Oil, Big Banks, Corporate Greed, the CEO's, the Rich, those that don't 'pay their fair share', etc...etc...etc...
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The list could go on and on. So spare me your LIBERAL elitist explanations of my posts.:-)
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PS. I couldn't leave out a few other choice 'buzzwords' of Liberals used by Obama: Â 'global warming, the children, and who could forget....'the 47%'.
@last boyscout , , , Rubish.
The union didn't seem to notice that the major shippers of T6 went elsewhere. If the strike occurs, it'll possibly be like that B. Springsteen song which has the lyrics "These jobs are going boys and they ain't coming back"
The fate of the Port of Portland was sealed a long time ago (1960s) when it didn't go gung ho for container shippping. Seattle did, and the rest is history. The unions seem hell-bent to destroy what little is left of our port...Pretty sad state of affairs....
What I don't get is how the railroad and airline industries are subject to the Railway Labor Act (RLA) but shipping and trucking are not.
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Suffice to say that this strike would be barred under the RLA.
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Either the RLA is utterly obsolete for all transportation industries (it is IMHO) or it should encompass ALL transportation industries.
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Which is it?
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I would love to see these union thugs lose their jobs. But the reality of it is that the economy here needs the port.
We are in bad enough shape with it, just imagine if we didnt have it.
Remove the union and bring in grateful employees. I guarantee the port would break growth records.
@Jack_Bauer yes, let's bring in your typical minimum wage security guard and see how that works out. We should probably give them loaded weapons, too.
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 @altannuisance  @Jack_Bauer Or pay the current security guards what they are worth or what the current obama economy will bear (which is less than what they are getting). Either way, the port is better off.
I am very fortunate to work for one of the best non-union companies on earth. We work out a fare agreement every 3 yrs. We have stores all over the world and somehow get along just fine. Tonight my top boss Craig (and yes I can call Him by his 1st name) came through my line to buy a couple sweaters, shook my hand and is as down to earth as ever. Our leadership connects with each store (over 300). several times a year. When they are here the door is always open for conversation. They could have gone a nice Holiday, but they choose the work just as have to this time of year.
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@Erich a large part of America is cultured to believe that even though small business is the backbone of America, it's somehow the domain of the government, the university or the corporations to provide a job for them. To that mindset, it's just the way of life.
It seems to me that these unions are just fine with losing their jobs all together as more and more ships go to other ports. Evidently, zero figures and six figures are about the same to them. Glad they aren't accountants.
to hell with ILWU
I think we should just close the port. Seems like nobody wants to work anyway. And let the unions go to hell.
 @Rob C 503 Ain't going to happen in regards to closing the port, but if the Coast Guard keeps telling these incoming ships to find another port like they did with the ship full of new Toyota's something will obviously happen. Oh, and I am not going to cite my source since my ex-wife is a big mucky-muck in the Northwest Marine Trade Association, OK??
Security Guards can be replaced in two minutes.
@sortbait Sure, if you think a typical minimum wage security guard could do the job. But they can't.
Wonder how long it will take the union to convince shippers to bypass Portland permanently.
 @Nobody Port of Tacoma is just as easy to use.  I know I'm looking at streering my companies' containers there if the stupid Port of Portland union workers keep playing these games.  I guess we can just send our money up north instead of having to use it in our community down here.
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 @Nobody I heard on the radio that the Coast Guard was was warning ships into turning away  this afternoon - the latest was loaded with new Toyota's. What a great time of year for this - mo' money!! As if greed has not cost us enough these last few years and continues to do so...
The fact that these unions would prefer to cut each others' throats while sidelining their members who make $150K per year with exceptional benefits is beyond comprehension. The unions will kill much of the business for the Port of Portland because the shippers already need an incentive to spend an extra day traversing the Columbia River each way. The deep water ports of LA, Long Beach, and all those in Puget Sound will welcome the extra business and the shippers will save money. Of course nobody has ever claimed these unions were overly smart. When people without a college dregree make $150K or more per year for pushing freight around they should be counting their blessings. Millions of Americans would love to work the ports for 1/2 that much.
 @I812 It will not be long before the Port of Vancouver is up to the task...
Dump the unions.
Finish that super highway from Mexico's Lazaro Cardenas so west coast cargo can be unloaded by workers who want to work.Â
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The $120,000+ longshoremen union workers will find that Mexicans will unload in Mexico for $25,000 a year and then US & Mexican trucks and trains can bring the freight into the USA, bypassing the greedy Big Union fat cats.
 @Unknown You are correct in your summation and the keyword in your diatribe is, "greedy."
T's the season for striking it I guess.
 @lee986321 Barack O'Claus is coming to town to make a much Merrier Christmas than in years past!! Where have you been??
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiIkAyFDj5Q&list=UUWtGs18hCS980pY72L_2rFQ&feature=plpp
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Unions can't even get along...striking over who unplugs an electrical cord? Rediculous! This just one example that shows how asinine the unions are...they should be banned...period! I've been forced to join 3 different unions during my lifetime...and 2 of them gave no additional benefits, the other just gave a lot of double talk. All 3 were mainly interested in the initiation fee and monthly dues, but if you asked for anything, there was nothing they could do.
 @flyingtime Hehe, back when I had my C-STOP card and was working while the mill was shut down, if I seen a bad cord I cut the thing... that was a rare thing. I miss that job but Freaking asthma and mill work, that is suicide.Dr gave me a choice, keep working and I risk the life of myself, have a sever asthma attack and I risk the lives of others..I hated giving up a 760 a week pay check. But, if i Had caused an accident, I couldn't live with that.
 @flyingtime C-Stop Stood for Contractors Safety Orientation Program .
Unions need to go away.
 @RalphCramden My grandfather that had been union all his life to include being president of the coal miners union in Hurricane Utah and at Fullman Plumbing told me the that unions had outlived their usefulness right before he died in 1979,,,
 @bonedÂ
That's about right. Unions are nothing more than big corrupt businesses.
 @IRON SHOW DOT COM    @bonedÂ
The Port of Portland is government, not big business.
 @RalphCramden  @boned The hearts of men have not gotten softer since the industrial revolution they have gotten harder. Without some kind of representation, workers are helpless and must endure any treatment the corporations want to dish out.
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I was forced to be in the union and really they didn't do anything for me except take my money.
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Most of the protections unions provided are now laws and that makes unions unnecessary.
 @RalphCramden I belonged to an 'Association' and not a union as a sheriff, we had no rights in spite of what many folks think. We pretty much took what we got and were nowhere near as powerful as PPB's 'union' having known Robert King...