Power in numbers: An estimated 1,200 ILWU members and supporters rallied in Portland on June 2nd to protest a EGT Columbia River venture that isn’t respecting the region’s workforce and labor standards.
A powerful show of solidarity from ILWU locals up and down the West Coast brought together 1,200 union members and allies who came to Portland for an important rally on June 3rd. The rally was called to protest a massive new grainhandling facility being built on the north shore of the Columbia River. The facility has imported outside workers despite high local unemployment, and is being evasive about its workforce moving forward.
Impressive support
When Local 21 members in Longview issued their call for solidarity, members from throughout the Puget Sound and Columbia River region responded by filling cars and buses. Most California members arrived by air, joining everyone for the Friday afternoon rally.
“I’ve been to many labor rallies in Portland with 60 or 70 people, but the huge turnout this time brought tears to my eyes,” said Local 8 President Jeff Smith. “I am so proud of the ILWU.” Besides hundreds of ILWU members from locals 4, 5, 8, 10, 13, 19, 21, 23, 27, 40, 50, 52, 53, 54, 92, and 98, dozens of ILWU Pensioners and Auxiliary members attended. Members of the ILWU’s Marine Division – the Inlandboatmen’s Union –were on hand. A wide range of other unions helped to swell the ranks, including members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Laborers, Teamsters, Painters, Roofers, Letter Carriers, AFSCME, SEIU, Carpenters, Masters, Mates & Pilots Union, and even theater workers from IATSE. The International Transport Workers Federation sent representatives and the Oregon state AFL-CIO and Northwest Oregon Labor Council encouraged affiliated union members to attend. Community groups including Jobs with Justice, the Working Families Party, and Cowlitz County Deserves Better also came to lend their support. Messages of encouragement and support came from as far away as Australia and New Zealand.
Surrounding the company
The noontime crowd gathered in Waterfront Park at the Salmon Street Springs Fountain, then filled the sidewalks six-deep for a march around the headquarters building of EGT – the company behind the new grainhandling facility that isn’t respecting local workers. The group rallied and chanted for an hour and a half, encouraging many office workers and curious onlookers to peer at the large crowd on the picture perfect sunny spring day. Portland police were good-natured and patient in helping rally participants exercise their First Amendment rights.
Speakers stress respect
International Vice President Ray Familathe (left) and International Secretary Treasurer Willie Adams marched for good jobs in Portland, OR.
A host of speakers were on hand to explain the necessity of maintaining the good jobs, family wages, and safe working conditions that have been part of the work standards at other grainhandling ports in the Northwest.
ILWU International Vice President Ray Familathe came from San Francisco to speak at the rally, calling on the owners of the new facility’s to “honor the tradition of our union waterfront,” adding, “this new terminal needs to respect the northwest tradition of providing good jobs to grain workers throughout the region.”
Local 21 President Dan Coffman told the crowd that he’s happy to see more grain shipments coming into the Longview area, adding “we’re ready to do the work.” Coffman estimates that
the new shipments that may begin arriving this fall could employ about50 longshore workers a day.
Also speaking was Brad Avakian, candidate for Congress and Oregon’s State Labor Commissioner who emphasized the importance of maintaining the region’s good, family-wage jobs. Local 8 President Jeff Smith pledged that members of his local would continue to show solidarity,
and invited everyone over to the union hall for burgers and beer after the rally ended – an offer that attracted plenty of takers who spent the afternoon meeting new and old friends from up and down the coast.
New facility is coming quickly
The new facility in Longview is slated to begin operating later this fall. It’s the first new grain export terminal to be built in the United States in more than two decades, and is being spearheaded by a consortium of multi-national grain corporations: the Japan-based Itochu Corporation, South Korea’s STX Pan Ocean, and Bunge North America. Together, their “EGT development” venture is spending
$200 million for a state-of-the art storage and transfer facility on the Columbia River shore at the port of Longview, Washington. EGT is also building two new facilities in Montana that will each be able to store 800,000 bushels of grain and load 110 train cars in record time that will travel on BNSF railroad tracks to Longview.
Northwest Grainhandler’s Agreement sets the area standard
Most of the massive grain shipments to Northwest Ports arrive on trains and barges. They unload at trans-shipment and storage facilities that comply with area labor standards established by the Northwest Grainhandler’s Agreement. The Agreement provides employers with skilled and experienced workers who know how to store and transfer various grains into ocean-going vessels that export the commodities
around the world. Most of the grain is bound for Asia where demand has been steadily increasing.
Big Business
Last year, the U.S. exported 10.4 million tons of wheat through the Pacific Northwest, about 40 percent of the nation’s total. Most grain is transported on barges and trains, with the remainder hauled by trucks. Shipments typically head down either the Mississippi toward Gulf ports or down the Columbia River to Northwest ports. The grain business has been dominated by large, powerful corporations for more than a
century, sparking revolts and political movements with socialist and populist leanings in the U.S. and Canada during the early 20th century. Today’s powerful players in the grain trade include Cargill, Continental, and Bunge. The latter is one of the partners behind the EGT venture in Longview that isn’t respecting area labor standards.
“The industry standards are clearly laid out in the Northwest Grainhandler’s Agreement that covers worker safety, staffing levels, pay and benefits,” said ILWU Coast Committeeman Leal Sundet. “Members from up and down the coast, from San Diego to Bellingham, want to see those standards respected in Longview.”
As The Dispatcher was going to press, EGT had not yet signed a union contract, although all other grain export terminals from the Columbia River to Puget Sound have successfully worked with local unions for decades. ILWU International Secretary-Treasurer Willie Adams who spoke at the rally reminded everyone that “this is just the beginning,” He urged everyone to gear-up for a long fight if necessary, “because we are working class people and nobody will fight to protect good jobs unless we take the lead to protect the families here who are depending on us.”