… Police, ILWU clash
Trumka: ILWU dispute
with #701 is jurisdictional
(From Page 1)
In a media briefing, Cowlitz County
Sheriff Mark Nelson said police were
trying to disperse the crowd through a
public address system, but their orders
were shouted down.
“We’ve danced this dance before,”
Nelson said. “When our officers went
in to make peaceful, lawful trespass ar-
rests, they were rushed by a mob of
hundreds of protesters who were resis-
tive and throwing things at the officers.”
In all, 19 protesters were arrested.
“Everyone came to the tracks on
their own free will to stand up for jus-
tice and protect good jobs in this com-
munity,” said ILWU International Pres-
ident Bob McEllrath, who stood with
the protesters and was detained by po-
lice, but not arrested. “It shouldn’t be a
crime to fight for good jobs in Amer-
ica.”
McEllrath told protesters after he
met with police that: “You can get
maced and tear-gassed and clubbed (to-
day)” or wait for longshore support
from all over the West Coast when the
next train tries to enter the EGT termi-
nal.
“If we leave here, it doesn’t mean
that we gave up and quit,” he said. “It
means we’re coming back.”
Early the following morning, on
Sept. 8, hundreds of ILWU members
reportedly stormed the EGT terminal,
broke down the gates, overpowered se-
curity guards, damaged railroad cars,
and dumped grain, according to
Longview Police Chief Jim Duscha.
Fifty police officers from Kelso,
Longview, Cowlitz County, the Wash-
ington State Patrol, Woodland, Kalama
and the Burlington Northern Railroad
responded to the scene. No one was in-
jured, and there were no arrests,
Duscha said.
The Longview Daily News reported
that grain was spilled from about 70 of
the 107 cars.
Associated Press reported that secu-
rity guards were held hostage.
“That didn’t happen,” Craig Mer-
rilees, communications director of the
ILWU, told Carlisle, Pennsylvania, ra-
dio host Rick Smith on the Rick Smith
Show. “The reporter and the police
Police detain ILWU International President Robert McEllrath for standing
with his members against multinational EGT. (Photo by Dawn Des Brisay)
chief who was responsible for that er-
roneous information recanted that ac-
count,” Merrilees said.
(Turn to Page 8)
A resolution adopted by the Oregon
AFL-CIO Executive Board condemn-
ing Operating Engineers Local 701 in
a work dispute with the International
Longshore and Warehouse Union
(ILWU) at the Port of Longview has
been nullified by national AFL-CIO
President Richard Trumka.
ILWU presented the resolution to
the Oregon AFL-CIO Executive Board
on July 29, charging that Local 701
was “aiding and abetting” an employer
that the ILWU had a dispute with.
Longview-based ILWU Local 21
has been trying to secure an agreement
with EGT Development to use long-
shore workers to operate its new $200
million grain export terminal under a
“Working Agreement” the union has
with the Port of Longview that covers
the operation of ship and barge docks,
handling cargo, and facility operations.
EGT Development, a joint venture
of Japan-based Itochu Corp, South Ko-
rea’s STX Pan Ocean and St. Louis-
based Bunge North America, leased
the property from the Port of
Longview and argues that it is not ob-
ligated to use ILWU members. EGT
has sued the Port in federal court to
avoid hiring ILWU members.
Talks between EGT and ILWU
broke off earlier this year.
In July, EGT signed a five-year
agreement with General Construction
Co. of Federal Way, Washington, to run
the terminal. Employees there are rep-
resented by members of Gladstone-
based Operating Engineers Local 701.
The motion to adopt the resolution
condemning Local 701 for taking the
work was ruled out of order by Oregon
AFL-CIO President Tom Chamber-
lain, who determined it was a dispute
over jurisdiction. But the board over-
turned him and passed it by a wide
margin.
Both ILWU and Operating Engi-
neers Local 701 are affiliates of the
AFL-CIO at the state and national lev-
els.
In his ruling, Trumka said Cham-
berlain was correct to rule the resolu-
tion out of order. “The work at issue in-
volves a jurisdictional dispute,” he
wrote, pointing out that jurisdictional
disputes are governed and settled by
Article 20 of the AFL-CIO Constitu-
tion. “In view of these provisions, nei-
ther the Oregon AFL-CIO, nor any
other AFL-CIO state, area, or local
central body has authority to intervene
or take sides.”
In conclusion, Trumka wrote: “Let
me be clear that this letter concerns
simply the issue of the authority of the
state federation to take action relating
to jurisdictional disputes. This should
not be construed as a judgment on the
merits of the dispute.”
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