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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 2012)
Inside Official Meeting Notices See Page 4 Volume 113 Number 2 January 21, 2012 Portland ILWU showdown in Longview near A crowd estimated at 1,000 gathered at Pioneer Courthouse Square Jan. 8 before marching through the streets of downtown Portland to rally in support of saving postal services. In a notice posted in the Federal Register, the USPS has proposed to revise its service standards to eliminate overnight delivery of First-Class mail, change next-day delivery to two days, and two-day delivery to three days. The Postal Service proposes shuttering 3,700 post offices and 252 mail processing centers. Portland area postal workers rally to save jobs, Saturday delivery An estimated 1,000 Portland-area postal workers, their families, and al- lies marched through the streets of downtown Jan. 8 to call attention to tax-free solutions before Congress that will save America’s postal service from massive cuts. The march and demonstration were coordinated by the National Associa- tion of Letter Carriers Branch 82, which represents 1,200 letter carriers in the greater Portland area. It started at Pioneer Courthhouse Square and ended on the front steps of the Main Post Of- fice on Northwest Hoyt. Signs calling for saving 6-day delivery, door-to-door and curbside delivery, community post offices, and family-wage jobs dotted the blocks-long procession. “Oregonians know about the USPS’s financial crisis, but few know what caused the crisis or that there are solutions before Congress that won’t cost the taxpayer a dime,” said Branch 82 President Jim Cook. “In fact, by subjecting the USPS — unlike any other agency or company in the country — to a pre-funding obligation starting in 2007, Congress itself has caused the bulk of the red ink.” Cook was referring to a requirement imposed by Congress in 2006 that forces USPS to massively prefund the cost of retiree health benefits (to the tune of $5.5 billion a year) over the next 75 years in just 10 years’ time. This cost covers not only current em- ployees, but employees who have yet to be hired — and it is on top of the cost for health benefits for current re- tirees. No other company or agency in America is required to prefund future retiree health benefits. Some 19 postal-related bills have been introduced in Congress. Some of- fer to help the agency, while others try to destroy it. At the rally, letter carriers talked about two bills in particular that postal unions and the AFL-CIO support — HR 1351 and S. 1853. S. 1853, introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and co-sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), would elim- inate the pre-funding requirement, along with making other changes aimed at saving the Postal Service. HR 1351 addresses a decades-old accounting error that led the Office of Personnel Management to overcharge the Postal Service by as much as $75 billion for payments into the Civil Serv- ice Retirement System. It also would return a $10.9 billion overcharge in the postal portion of the Federal Employ- ees Retirement System pension fund; HR 1351 has bipartisan support (Turn to Page 5) By DON McINTOSH Associate Editor LONGVIEW, Washington — A showdown is coming in Longview. Some time in late January or early Feb- ruary, the first ship will come down the Columbia River to be loaded at a brand-new grain terminal — and will be confronted by union members, fam- ilies, supporters, and Occupy Wall Street activists from Longview, Seattle, Portland, and Oakland. The ship reportedly will be escorted by the U.S. Coast Guard. That inter- vention by the U.S. military in a do- mestic labor dispute drew a strongly worded resolution of condemnation Jan. 9 from the San Francisco Labor Council. Meanwhile, at the terminal, Port of Longview Berth 9, it’s expected that local police from multiple jurisdic- tions will stand guard. Officially, the employer in the dis- pute is EGT, which is registered in Ore- gon as a limited liability corporation with offices at 101 SW Main St, Suite 1800, Portland. But EGT (Export Grain Terminal) is a stand-in for Bunge, an agribusiness giant with operations in 40 countries. Bunge, valued at $8.5 billion on the New York Stock Exchange, has a 51 percent controlling interest in EGT, alongside two co-investors: ITOCHU Corporation of Japan and STX Pan Ocean Co. of South Korea. EGT’s $200 million facility, con- structed with nonunion workers, is on public land leased from the Port of Longview. The Port says its lease agreement with EGT requires the com- pany to employ members of Longview- based International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 21. But EGT is disputing that in federal court. For a time, EGT met with Local 21, but negotiations broke off in early 2011: Local 21 would not agree to 12- hour shifts at straight-time pay, and the employer would not agree to use the union hiring hall to staff the terminal. After EGT broke off negotiations with Local 21, it hired a construction contractor — General Construction — to staff the terminal under an agreement with Operating Engineers Local 701. ILWU picketed Local 701’s Gladstone, Oregon, office, but since has returned its focus to targeting EGT. Now, Local 21 and the central labor council are calling on working people to support their struggle when the ship arrives. The Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, passed a res- olution Jan. 2 calling on “friends of la- bor and the 99% everywhere to come to the aid of ILWU Local 21, and to support them in any way possible in their fight against multinational con- glomerate EGT.” “This is the time for workers every- where to take a stand,” declared Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Central Labor Council Secretary-Treasurer Kyle Mackey, in a letter accompanying the resolution. “We are imploring all able working class people … to come to Longview, Washington for a historic protest.” Mackey is a member of ILWU Local 21. Labor activists and participants in the Occupy movement are taking up that call. Occupy Wall Street in New York has made available $12,000 to help Occupy groups mobilize in Oak- land, Portland, and Seattle. And ac- tivists are meeting in all three cities to plan rapid response for when the ship arrives. A multi-city working group of Occupy has been formed, and set up a web site, occupytheegt.org, where sup- porters can sign up for notifications by e-mail or text message, and coordinate rides and housing. The plan of response is still being worked out, with talk of actions on land and water, but also concern about legal consequences. Kari Koch, a spokesper- son for the working group, said that for legal reasons, the Occupy effort can’t coordinate directly with the ILWU. But inasmuch as participants will be mobi- lizing in Longview in support of local workers’ struggle against EGT, Koch said participants will follow the lead of the local workers when the time comes. ILWU itself is facing tremendous le- gal pressure. More than 200 people have been arrested in connection with protests over the terminal, and a federal judge has fined Local 21 $315,000 for conduct on the picket line. In a Jan. 3 letter to all longshore lo- cals, ILWU President Robert McEllrath (Turn to Page 5)
