Inside
Official
Meeting Notices
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Page 4
Volume 112
Number 18
September 16, 2011
Portland
ILWU dispute with EGT Development
Clash in Longview
LONGVIEW— Police officers
clashed Sept. 7 with members of the In-
ternational Longshore and Warehouse
Union (ILWU) who were blocking a
train from delivering grain to a new ter-
minal at the Port of Longview.
The incident led to a shutdown of
ports in Seattle, Everett, Anacortes, and
Tacoma the following day, where long-
shoremen refused to report to work for
the day.
Longview-based ILWU Local 21
has been trying since January to secure
an agreement with EGT Development
to use longshore workers to operate a
new $200 million grain export termi-
nal. EGT — a joint venture of Japan-
based Itochu Corp, South Korea’s STX
Pan Ocean and St. Louis-based Bunge
North America — leased the property
from the Port of Longview, but insists
it is not obligated to employ ILWU
members. EGT has sued the Port in
federal court to avoid hiring them.
ILWU has on several occasions
blocked trains from delivering grain to
EGT and has held protest rallies, in-
cluding one at EGT’s corporate office
in downtown Portland that drew more
than 1,000 people.
More than 125 people have been ar-
rested since the dispute began.
On the morning of Sept. 7, protest-
ers gathered at the Port of Vancouver to
block a 107-car Burlington Northern
Santa Fe train headed to the EGT ter-
minal to deliver grain. After a two-hour
standoff with police, the train was let
through.
Later that afternoon, some 400 pro-
testers stood on the tracks at the en-
trance of the Port of Longview to pre-
vent the train from entering.
According to union officials, 50 po-
lice in riot gear charged the group —
which included women and children —
using batons and pepper spray on some
of the protesters. No one was seriously
injured.
(Turn to Page 3)
On the railroad tracks in Longview, police move against ILWU members Sept. 7. EGT’s lease with the Port requires
that it employ ILWU members, but EGT is suing in federal court to get out of that. (Photo by Dawn Des Brisay)
Bakers battle prison bread in schools
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
Pop quiz: What does it take to get a
job making whole grain buns for the
cafeteria at Mountain View High
School in Vancouver, Washington?
Answer: A felony conviction.
At least eight school districts in the
state of Washington serve baked goods
made by inmates at the Airway Heights
Correctional Facility, 10 miles west of
Spokane.
At Airway Heights, inmates work at
an on-site bakery making bread, buns,
rolls, Danishes, cookies, and brownies.
They’re in for drug crimes, property
crimes, violent crimes, or sex crimes.
The Airway Heights prison bakery is
one of about three dozen enterprises run
by Correctional Industries, a unit of the
Washington Department of Corrections.
Danielle Wiles, Correctional Indus-
tries program manager in Olympia, told
the Labor Press the program is intended
to provide cost savings to the prison sys-
tem, and work experience and training
for offenders for when they’re released
back into the community.
Under Washington state law, prison
enterprises may sell to state agencies,
Multnomah Co. chair steps
in to end union standoff
AFSCME Local 88
members will vote on a
new three-year contract
with Multnomah County.
Bakers Local 114 member Sergio Ayala, above, earns a union wage and
benefits at Franz Bakery in Portland. But Franz finds itself competing for
school district business with a prison-run bakery near Spokane.
school districts, and non-profits, but not
to the private sector. The law says Cor-
rectional Industries is not supposed to
“unfairly compete with Washington
businesses.” And its funds are to be in-
vested in work programs that “mini-
mize the impact on in-state jobs and
businesses.”
But Correctional Industries does im-
(Turn to Page 2)
Members of AFSCME Local 88
will vote Sept. 28 and 29 on a new
three-year union contract covering
about 2,800 employees of Multnomah
County.
The two sides reached agreement
Aug. 31 after Multnomah County
Chair Jeff Cogen stepped in to end a
months-long standoff. Cogen, joined
by the county’s newly hired labor rela-
tions director, was able to reach an
agreement in a few hours of bargain-
ing. Until then, the county’s chief ne-
gotiator had been labor relations con-
sultant Diana Moffat, who was paid
$75,000 to lead bargaining.
Local 88 president Michael Hanna
said Moffat’s approach was to stall,
and then object when the union ap-
pealed for intervention from county
decision-makers. It was a big departure
from the collaborative relationship the
two sides had developed in recent
years. In 2007, the county and the
union used a problem-solving ap-
proach in bargaining, and in 2009, the
union volunteered a wage freeze to
prevent layoffs. Now, Hanna said, Lo-
cal 88 was treated in bargaining like an
enemy. The county insisted on a two-
year contract that eliminated job secu-
rity and overtime protections, offered
no raise in the first year, and opened
health benefits to renegotiation in the
second year.
“We were at a crossroads, and
things were getting ready to go off the
rails,” Hanna told the Labor Press. “We
didn’t know if our members were
ready to strike, but our bargaining team
was resolutely not going to budge.”
But the county dropped its conces-
sionary demands when Cogen entered
bargaining. Hanna said the new deal is
a fair one.
“I wasn’t looking at this from the
(Turn to Page 7)