Shipyard workers hold short ULP strikes at 6 Vigor properties
Several hundred shipyard workers at
six Vigor Industrial facilities in Oregon
and Washington conducted unfair labor
practice (ULP) strikes Sept. 25 during
their lunch break and at the afternoon
shift change.
The Metal Trades Council of Port-
land & Vicinity and the Puget Sound
Metal Trades Council filed an unfair la-
bor practice complaint with the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
after Vigor Industrial implemented a to-
bacco free policy Sept. 1 at all of its lo-
cations without bargaining in good
faith. The job action involves workers
at Cascade General, Vigor Marine and
Vigor Fab at Portland’s Swan Island
ship repair yard.
Vigor Industrial employs approxi-
mately 1,700 workers in facilities in
Portland, Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, Bre-
merton and Port Angeles. They are
members of various craft unions, and
work under a master labor agreement
negotiated and administered by the
Metal Trades Department, AFL-CIO.
[The Carpenters Union represents
some employees under a separate
agreement.]
The Portland Metal Trades Council
bargains local terms and conditions in
Oregon (at Swan Island). The respec-
tive Metal Trades Councils in Wash-
ington bargain local terms and condi-
tions for workers in those cities.
“Implementing a tobacco-free pol-
icy is absolutely a mandatory subject of
bargaining, and Vigor knows it,” said
Brian Opland, business manager of
Seattle-based Boilermakers Local 104.
Local 104 represents all welders, ship
fitters, riggers and helpers in Oregon
and Washington, as well as several
other job classifications.
Speaking at a lunchtime picket at
Swan Island, Opland explained to
nearly 100 workers that tobacco use
has never been an issue in the past. In
2013 Vigor was concerned about trash
and litter (cigarette butts, etc.), so the
union and company agreed on a
process for corrective action. Last year
the company spent nearly $20,000 to
build a covered designated smoking
area for its employees at Swan Island.
Opland said the company has ex-
panded tremendously over the last sev-
eral years, and with that growth it has
begun operating “more and more like a
dictatorship.”
Last year, Vigor Shipyard in Seattle
implemented its last, best and final of-
fer after the sides couldn’t come to
terms on a deal, and workers decided
not to strike. It takes a two-thirds ma-
jority vote to strike.
The Portland Metal Trades Council
contract at Cascade General expires in
Nov. 30 of this year.
The master agreement with the na-
tional Metal Trades Department ex-
pires June 1, 2017.
Opland said the NLRB is currently
investigating the charges and has not
yet set a timeline as to when it may is-
sue a ULP complaint. Meantime, future
job actions and additionaly ULP
charges are being discussed.
Joe Loennig, a member of IBEW Local 48, joins about 75 co-workers from various craft unions on a picket line
Sept. 25 at the Portland shipyards on Swan Island. Portland and Puget Sound metal trades councils filed an unfair
labor practice complaint against Vigor Industrial after the company implemented a tobacco free policy at all of its
properties without bargaining with the union. Unfair labor practice strikes were held during lunch break and
afternoon shift-change at Vigor properties in Portland, Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, Bremerton and Port Angeles.
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