ILWU members, community, demand Port of Olympia bargain fairly with Local 47B

Supporters from IBU, ILWU Canada, Hawai’i and West Coast locals denounce port’s ‘inexcusable’ actions

The March 27th the Port Commission meeting for the Port of Olympia in Washington State was standing room only as more than two dozen community supporters and ILWU members packed the room to show solidarity with members of ILWU Local 47B. ILWU members and representatives came out from all over the West Coast, Hawai’i, and Canada. 

Members of Local 47B were present in force at the meeting alongside other ILWU and community members.  While public employees in Washington State face some restrictions on making comment, fellow members and supporters at their side spoke up in strong solidarity

Local 47B was formed in April of 2022 and represents 16 workers from the port’s maintenance department, marina, and boatyard. Negotiations began in June of 2022, but the two sides have spent little time at the bargaining table. 

The union has filed four unfair labor practices charges with the WA Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) alleging that the port violated state labor law through illegally retaliating and discriminating against union supporters. As the Dispatcher was going to press, PERC had not yet made a ruling on the charges filed by the union. 

In September and February, supporters participated in Commission meetings demanding accountability at the port—an end to manager violations, a stop to blowing taxpayer dollars on consultants and lawyers, and a commitment to sign a fair union contract without delay.

Seventeen people spoke during the open comments portion of the March 27^th meeting urging the port to sit down and negotiate a contract with workers. Several speakers said the port was prolonging negotiations by not devoting adequate time to contract talks with workers. The Port has devoted only two hours every two weeks to bargaining, several speakers noted. In February, the port requested PERC  step in as a mediator saying the contract talks had reached an impasse. The result has been a nearly two-month delay in negotiations. Speakers asked the Port Commissioners to take greater oversight and control of the negotiations to get a deal done with workers. 

Jim Rose from Local 47, which represents longshore workers at the Port of Olympia, spoke at the Commission meeting and raised concerns about delays in bargaining. “Instead of making it a top priority to finish and sign a union contract, your managers have gone the opposite way,” Rose said. “I really can’t believe your executive team tried to claim that two hours every two weeks to bargain was reasonable and equitable.”

Jay Ubelhart, President of the Inlandboatmen’s Union (IBU), the marine division of the ILWU, also spoke about the lack of time at the bargaining table. “I’ve spent 20 years negotiating with public employers,” Ubelhart said. “It is absolutely inexcusable to take two hours every two weeks. It’s just crazy that these workers have to wait.”

Olympia resident Glen Ray brought up several actions taken towards union supporters that are a part of the unfair labor practices charges brought by the ILWU, including denying overtime and delaying promotions for workers who support the union. Ray also spoke about the termination of a pro-union worker who was fired after reporting the Port to state regulators for safety violations. 

“Your executive team demoted and fired a union-supporting worker who blew the whistle on the Port,” Ray said. “The supervisor never provided him a work schedule and then wrote him up for leaving early. She then denied him office keys and forced him to finish his shift while waiting outside of a locked building for two weeks straight. Finally, he was ordered to work on a rooftop and was then denied a safety harness. When he reported this reckless order to the state regulators, your executive team reprimanded him and fired him soon after.”

Several ILWU speakers urged to Port Commission to get to work and sit down to bargain. 

“You are the elected leaders here, and it is your responsibility to act and stop wasting time,” said Genevieve Lorenzo, an organizer with ILWU Canada. “The time for lip service is over. The time for action is now. We see you, and we are watching, and we will not take our eyes off you until the port workers of local 47B get the fair contract they deserve.”

“I’m very concerned about what I’m hearing here,” said Local 34 President Sean Farley. “I’ve had the personal privilege of working directly with the Ports of Sacramento, Stockton, Oakland, and San Francisco. It’s not always an easy relationship. And I can understand that, but we always find a way to get it done together. It’s not that hard. It takes a commitment to sit down at a table and hash it out.”

Local 10’s Melvin Mackay expressed a similar sentiment. “What has to happen here is that someone has to put on their big boy pants. The thing that these workers are asking for is to do what they set out to do — provide for their families, as you all do,” Mackay said to the Commissioners. “You can get it done if you want to. It’s a give-and-take.”

Two weeks later on April 10, Port Commissioner Amy Evans Harding made a motion at the Commission meeting to place the port’s Executive Director Sam Gibboney on administrative leave. The other two Commissioners—Joe Downing and Bob Iyall— voted down Commissioner Evans Harding’s motion and immediately adjourned the meeting just twenty minutes after it started.

Commissioner Evans Harding published an opinion piece online in The Journal of Lacey, Tumwater and Olympia detailing what Harding saw as critical failings of leadership and lack of accountability, including: a Letter of No Confidence in the Director signed by most port employees; turnover of all but one of the Director’s reports to the Commission; separation agreements to former employees costing taxpayers almost $200,000 in payouts; and the Director’s attempt to sway the Commission to materially alter and improve her annual performance review. 

On April 17, the Commission released a public statement in support of the Executive Director, praising her “high ethical and moral standards,” and thanking the Director for “moving the port in a good direction with visible results.” Meanwhile, Commissioner Evans Harding stated to The Olympian that though “we moved forward as a Commission and I support that,” she will “still do what is right” and is committed to being “transparent with the community.”

As the Dispatcher went to press, Local 47B members were scheduled to begin contract mediation with the Executive Director’s team through PERC in late April as Thurston County taxpayers, the public at large and ILWU leaders and members from the mainland, Hawai’i and Canada monitor the situation for results.