Local 8 ULP Strike Urges Overseas Employer to Drop Baseless Lawsuit
Portland Longhore workers stand up to Japanese company Columbia Export Terminal to drop baseless, $15 million lawsuit against 150 local grainhandlers
Pacific Northwest rain has never stopped ILWU workers from working hard – or from taking a stand. In the dark early morning of Dec. 6, dozens of Portland longshore workers began a 2-day Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike at Terminal 5, sending a strong message that a grain employer’s attempt to intimidate them is no match for their resolve.
For the past three years, Japan-based Pacificor, which owns Columbia Export Terminal (CET), has been attempting to sue 150 ILWU grainhandlers for $15 million, despite the company’s baseless lawsuit having been thrown out by federal courts. This ongoing aggressive action by the company spurred Portland dockworkers to conduct a ULP strike at Terminal 5 to demand the company drop the lawsuit.
“Columbia Export Terminal is a foreign company that’s extracted enormous profits from Portland’s public ports and now wants to intimidate its Portland workforce into giving up our pension and health care plan at the negotiating table,” said Bruce Holte, Secretary-Treasurer of ILWU Local 8. “It is flat-out wrong for a Japanese company to misuse the U.S. federal court system to undermine the rights of American workers. Pacificor’s actions at Columbia Export Terminal poison the collective bargaining atmosphere by design and make it impossible to bargain in good faith – a violation of the National Labor Relations Act.”
In December 2018, Japan-based Pacificor (dba Columbia Export Terminal or CET) sued 150 current and former members of ILWU Local 8 and Local 92, and the ILWU in federal court. The company claimed that long established rest and meal break practices — which the company has known about for years — were fraudulent and part of a criminal conspiracy.
In 2019, the federal magistrate judge recommended dismissal of CET’s lawsuit, and the U.S. District Court judge in Portland dismissed the case. CET appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, and the appeals court upheld the lower court’s decision to dismiss the lawsuit. CET then asked for the entire 9th Circuit to rehear the case. The case remains open until the 9th Circuit rules on that request or until CET drops the lawsuit.
The contract with Pacificor’s Columbia Export Terminal expired in May, 2018. There has been no bargaining since March of 2019.
The men and women of the ILWU have exported grain at all Pacific Northwest grain elevators since the 1930’s. The majority of grain export companies operating in Oregon and Washington are based in Asia or Europe and are leasing space at U.S. public ports.
Willie Adams, ILWU International President, said, “The men and women of Local 8 in Portland are exercising their legal right to strike at Terminal 5 and defend the right of American workers to collectively bargain. It is impossible for members of Local 8 to do so with a bogus $15 million lawsuit hanging over their heads. CET needs to drop the baseless and harmful lawsuit against the hardworking men and women who have been exporting grain at Terminal 5 for decades.”