ILWU Longshore union, Northwest grain terminal owners still talking to avert a lockout

ILWU Longshore union, Northwest grain terminal owners still talking to avert a lockout

By Richard Read

The Oregonian, November 4, 2012 

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2012/11/longshore_union_northwest_grai.html

The Rosco Plum, a 77,000-ton vessel, loads Oct. 22 at Columbia Grain Inc.'s Portland terminal, one of those involved in the longshore contract talks. The Hong Kong-flagged ship departed for Qingdao, China.
Longshore union leaders and Northwest grain terminal owners have agreed to continue contract talks cloaked in secrecy in hopes of averting a lockout at Portland-area and Puget Sound ports.
Representatives of union locals and an association of grain terminal employers will keep negotiating, as requested by a federal mediator, according to a news release issued Friday by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in Washington, D.C.
“Due to the sensitivity of this high-profile dispute and consistent with the agency's longstanding practice, we will not disclose either the location of the meeting or the content of the substantive negotiations that will take place,” the release said.
Growers of wheat, corn and soybeans across the Northwest and Midwest hope that the talks produce an agreement that will keep grain moving. The terminals involved in the talks handle a quarter of the nation's grain exports.
Longshoremen have continued working at the terminals in Portland, Vancouver and the Seattle area since their contract expired Sept. 30. They are prepared to protest on land and in boats if the talks fail and a lockout ensues.
On Monday, a federal mediator entered the talks between the Pacific Northwest Grain Handlers Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. The news release said that the parties have agreed to the mediator’s request that they refrain from public comments on the talks.
Hearing coming Tuesday
In separate proceedings involving the same union, a federal judge will hold a hearing in Portland Tuesday concerning continuing issues stemming from a labor dispute at the Port of Portland's container terminal.
U.S. District Judge Michael Simon is expected to rule on a motion filed by National Labor Relations Board attorneys who want him to hold the longshore union in contempt of court for allegedly coercing shipping lines. Longshoremen continue to seek the equivalent of two jobs being performed by members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, plugging, unplugging and monitoring refrigerated containers.

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