Judge declines to block ILWU Local 28 longshore-backed strike Sunday at Port of Portland

Judge declines to block ILWU Local 28  longshore-backed strike Sunday at Port of Portland

By Richard Read

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

Trailers line up for loading and unloading Wednesday at Columbia Sportswear's distribution center in North Portland. Because of the labor turmoil, the company will ship products from Asia to Seattle and Tacoma instead of Portland, sending cargo by rail to the distribution center around the corner from Portland's troubled container terminal.

A Multnomah County judge declined Wednesday to block a strike that the Port of Portland claims will cause a catastrophic economic disaster. 

Circuit Judge John Wittmayer rejected an emergency petition by the Port, meaning that security officers remain on track for a strike starting Sunday that's expected to shut three terminals as longshore workers honor the picket lines. 

The labor turmoil led Honda to divert a ship Wednesday carrying 2,000 vehicles. A Hanjin Shipping Co. vessel will skip Portland on Saturday.

More ships are expected to bypass Portland, snarling imports and exports. A Columbia Sportswear spokesman confirmed Wednesday the company is shifting its imports from Portland to Seattle and Tacoma, a move that other large Port customers may follow. 

But no sooner had Wittmayer handed longshoremen a victory than a federal judge dealt the union a blow. U.S. District Judge Michael Simon issued a preliminary injunction late Wednesday ordering longshore union locals to stop filing lost-work claims surpassing $700,000 against shipping lines and the Port's terminal operator. The decision stemmed from a separate dispute that caused ships to bypass Portland last summer. 

In Multnomah County court Wednesday, Wittmayer said the Port failed to prove the strike would constitute a danger to public safety and welfare. Even if it had, the judge said, he lacked legal authority to issue an injunction. He acknowledged that a strike would amount to a great inconvenience, even an economic disaster. 
 

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Continuing coverage of longshore labor turmoil in Portland and at other Northwest ports.

"We'll see how big a disaster it is," Wittmayer said. 

The disaster described by Port officials is set to unfold as vessels carrying containers, cars and commodities bypass Portland, snarling cargo from Asia to the Midwest. The bigger catastrophe, according to Port managers, will come if importers and exporters bypass Portland and shipping-line managers decide to pull out for good. 

"And pretty soon there's no cargo, and then there's no ships," said Bill Wyatt, Port executive director, after the two judges had coincidentally issued their decisions the same day. 

Wyatt welcomed Judge Simon's injunction, which halts the lost-wage claims until the National Labor Relations Board issues a decision on charges that the longshore union is coercing shipping lines. He said Port lawyers faced an uphill legal battle seeking an injunction against the Sunday walkout, but wanted to try everything possible as the strike looms. 

Craig Merrilees, a spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in San Francisco, said Judge Wittmayer clearly wasn't impressed by the Port's arguments. "This should put the ball back in the Port's court to get back to the negotiations and try to resolve this," Merrilees said. 

State Conciliator Robert Nightingale plans to mediate last-ditch contract talks Saturday between the Port and ILWU Local 28, which represents the 25 security officers who plan to strike Sunday. Both sides have said talks are also possible before then. 

In court Wednesday, lawyer Hank Kaplan, who represented Local 28, said longshoremen who handle cargo at Port terminals 2, 4 and 6 would probably honor the security officers' picket lines. But Merrilees, interviewed by phone after the hearing, said he couldn't predict exactly what longshore workers would do. 

"Given the history of solidarity and the struggles to stand up for workers over decades, they've shown time and time again that they have a deep respect for picket lines," Merrilees said. Pressed on the issue, he said union locals have considerable autonomy and a democratic tradition. "I'm not in the habit of making commitments for the members," he said. 

The security officers, who have negotiated intermittently with the Port since June 2011, say the main outstanding issue is their need for a job guarantee so the Port won't replace them with lower-paid workers. "If those job security issues can be resolved, I think we're in spitting distance of an agreement," Kaplan said.

In testimony, Dan Pippenger, Port marine operations general manager, described a nasty chain reaction that would occur if the terminals shut down. He said that more than 3,500 workers depend on the terminals for their jobs. 

Pippenger said retail giant Fred Meyer, the biggest customer at Terminal 6, brings in 10,000 containers a year filled with goods often needed on store shelves within days. "Even a temporary delay has a big impact on their sales and market access and their ability to compete," Pippenger said. 

Columbia Sportswear's decision to abandon the Port for now is especially ironic because the company's multi-state distribution center is located around the corner from Terminal 6. Columbia, which brings in more than 50 containers a month, will ship them from Asia to Puget Sound ports and send them by rail to Portland, said Ron Parham, a company spokesman. 

Pippenger, questioned during Wednesday's hearing by Randy Foster, an attorney representing the Port, said a strike would trap goods inside terminals, such as steel slabs needed by Evraz Portland. He said an official of the security officers' Local 28 told him that leaders of Portland longshore Local 8 were pushing the officers to strike. 

"I believe Local 8 has a vested interest," Pippenger said, "in having Local 28 go out on strike."