June 3, 2011_nWLP 5/31/11 10:21 aM Page 3
Activists tell grain exporter to ‘Respect the Union Waterfront’
“Respect the local workforce, and
make tons of money for years to come.”
That’s the message that union ac-
tivists have been sending to EGT Devel-
opment regarding its massive new grain
terminal at the Port of Longview, Wash-
ington.
“Union longshore workers have
made the Northwest one of the most
productive grain exporting regions in the
world,” said Dan Coffman, president of
the International Longshore and Ware-
house Union (ILWU) Local 21 in
Longview. “This new grain terminal
stands to gain by playing by the same
rules as the other grain operators that are
making lots of money with productive
union workers.”
Slated to begin operating this sum-
mer, the $200 million grain elevator on
the north bank of the Columbia River is
a state-of-the art facility built by EGT
Development, a joint venture of Japan-
based Itochu Corp, South Korea’s STX
Pan Ocean, and Bunge North America.
[Despite high unemployment in Cowlitz
County and the availability of hundreds
of skilled union building trades workers,
EGT imported the vast majority of its
construction crews from low-wage com-
munities out-of-state and did not pay
area standard wages.]
As of press time, EGT had not yet
signed a union contract, even though all
other grain export terminals from the
river to the
Puget Sound
have success-
fully worked
with local
unions for
decades.
“The in-
dustry stan-
dard
is
clearly laid
out in the
Northwest
Grainhan-
dler’s Agree-
ment that provides
for worker safety, manning and pay and
benefits,” said Leal Sundet, ILWU Coast
committeeman and former Portland Lo-
cal 8 president who’s elected by all West
Coast dockers to represent the longshore
division’s interests. “Our members from
up and down the coast, from San Diego
to Bellingham, want to see the standards
of this agreement respected in
Longview.”
The Northwest is an important grain
export region because national rail lines
connect Midwest farms to deep-draft
ports in Oregon and Washington. The
grain is then loaded by ILWU members
onto ships bound primarily for Asia. The
need for grain overseas is increasing due
to a growing middle class in China, and
other factors.
“We’re happy to see more grain com-
ing West, and we’re ready to do the
work, which would require about 50
longshore workers a day,” Coffman said.
Coffman and Local 21 have garnered
strong support for the local workforce
from up and down the West Coast and
beyond. When they announced that they
would rally at EGT’s corporate office in
downtown Portland on June 3 (after this
issue went to press), longshoremen from
Washington chartered buses to attend,
and delegations of longshore workers
from California ports bought plane tick-
ets to come and show their unwavering
support. When the union created a Face-
book page to announce the rally, it got
promises of support from as far away as
Australia and New Zealand.
The ILWU’s Coast Committee at the
union’s headquarters in San Francisco
asked International Vice President Ray
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and deliver this message on behalf of the
entire West Coast:
“It’s time for EGT to start respecting
local workers and providing good jobs
for the community. We’d all like to see
this new terminal off to a good start.”
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