Sen. Don Benton
Washington senator demands police escorts to aid lockout
By DAVID GROVES
VANCOUVER, Wash. — What ob-
ligation do taxpayers have to provide
security indefinitely to a for-profit cor-
poration engaged in a protracted labor
dispute so it can continue operating
with cheaper workers after locking out
its unionized workforce?
None, says the governor’s office, lo-
cal law enforcement and labor leaders.
But state Sen. Don Benton (R-Van-
couver) disagrees. In fact, he is so an-
gry that Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee has
stopped providing Washington State Pa-
trol escorts for state grain inspectors to
cross a union picket line at the Mitsui-
United Grain Corp. terminal at the Port
of Vancouver that he filed an ethics
complaint against the governor. Benton
claims that Inslee “has unlawfully in-
volved himself in a labor dispute, using
his executive authority in an attempt to
force a private corporation to negotiate
with a labor union.”
The governor temporarily authorized
the escorts last fall in hopes it would
give Mitsui-United Grain and the Inter-
national Longshore and Warehouse
Union (ILWU) time to negotiate a set-
tlement, according to his spokeswoman,
Jaime Smith. But eight months later,
she said it was clear the escorts weren’t
producing the intended results, so Inslee
stopped providing the service in early
July. The effect has been to slow opera-
tions at the terminal, leading to aggres-
sive criticism of Inslee from conserva-
tives like Benton. Meanwhile, the
AUGUST 15, 2014
STATE SEN . DON BENTON
ILWU reports that negotiations with the
Pacific Northwest Grain Handlers con-
tinued last week and through the week-
end.
But why do grain inspectors need se-
curity? And why were these workers
locked out in the first place?
Some background is necessary to
understand the complex situation and
give some context to Sen. Benton’s de-
mand for escort services.
In the fall of 2012, the member com-
panies of the Pacific Northwest Grain
Handlers Association sought a contract
for all of the region’s grain export facil-
ities that the ILWU described as includ-
ing “deep concessions.” Grain workers
rejected the employers’ proposal by a
93.8 percent margin in December 2012.
TEMCO, which operates grain ex-
port facilities in Portland, Tacoma and
Kalama, subsequently resumed talks
with the union and in February 2013 the
ILWU ratified a new 5-year contract
agreement with TEMCO. By all ac-
counts the company is thriving under
the new contract.
In contrast, the Japanese conglomer-
ate Mitsui, which runs the United Grain
Corp. terminal at the Port of Vancouver,
simply imposed the terms of the con-
cessionary contract that its employees
had rejected. (The workers’ previous
contract had expired.) The company’s
hostile stance and refusal to continue
negotiations was decried by the ILWU
and angered their employees, but they
continued to work rather than going on
strike.
On the morning of Feb. 27, 2013,
just days after the TEMCO deal had
been announced, Mitsui locked out its
unionized workforce. The company
claimed it was initiating the lockout be-
cause an angry union employee “sabo-
taged” company equipment and it had
security camera evidence. The union
immediately claimed that the lockout
was planned, that Mitsui had already
solicited the services of replacement
workers and tugboats, and the company
had just been looking for an excuse to
impose it.
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
‘My position is that the law
enforcement role is a neutral
enforcement role that preserves
the peace, protects life and
property, and protects the rights
of the parties as it relates both
to the law and the Constitution
of the United States. It becomes
difficult to maintain neutrality
when a police agency is a
contractor/ employee of one of
the parties… We have never, and
as long as I’m the sheriff never
will, act as an escort to a private
company involved in a labor
dispute to transport or escort
management staff,
subcontractors, or third parties
onto management’s property.’
C LARK C OUNTY S HERRIFF
G ARRY L UCAS
County prosecutors never filed
charges for the alleged “sabotage” due
to lack of evidence, but the company
still insists it happened and that it mer-
ited locking out every member of the
ILWU Local 4 — nearly 50 men and
women — from their jobs and contin-
ues to merit keeping them out of the ter-
minal more than 17 months later.
Ever since then, the locked-out local
United Grain workers and the ILWU
have maintained a picket line outside
the facility as the company has sought
to operate the terminal with cheaper
nonunion workers — who the union
says have been brought in from out of
state. It has created a volatile situation at
the picket line that has included charges
of illegal harassment by both sides and
at least one picketer hit by a truck.
In August 2013, a state grain inspec-
tor filed a police report claiming to have
been harassed while crossing the picket
line. Initially, the Vancouver Police De-
partment escorted grain inspectors
through the picket line, but soon
stopped. In October, Gov. Inslee di-
rected state troopers to escort the in-
spectors, who are state employees with
the Department of Agriculture. But in
early July, after 10 months of providing
escorts, the governor pulled them. With
no grain inspectors going into the ter-
minal, United Grain’s ability to operate
has been seriously hindered.
Mitsui-United Grain has since asked
the Clark County Sheriff’s Office to
provide the escort — and even pro-
posed reimbursing them for the cost —
but Sheriff Garry Lucas flatly rejected
the request.
In a letter that was published in the
Columbian newspaper, Lucas wrote:
“My position is that the law enforce-
ment role is a neutral enforcement role
that preserves the peace, protects life
and property, and protects the rights of
the parties as it relates both to the law
and the Constitution of the United
States. It becomes difficult to maintain
neutrality when a police agency is a
contractor/employee of one of the par-
ties… We have never, and as long as
I’m the sheriff never will, act as an es-
cort to a private company involved in a
labor dispute to transport or escort man-
agement staff, subcontractors, or third
parties onto management’s property.”
Sheriff Lucas, like Gov. Inslee, be-
lieves that the government should main-
tain its neutrality by staying out of it. In-
stead, these public officials are
encouraging both labor and manage-
ment to negotiate in good faith and re-
solve the dispute as quickly as possible.
That position is being praised by la-
bor leaders.
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