USA: NW Longshore Workers Going Back to Work

Longshore workers who load grain in the U.S. Pacific Northwest export terminals have voted to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement with several multinational grain companies.

The contract will be in effect until May 31, 2018. Members voting in favor totaled 1,475; those voting against numbered 193.

A tentative agreement for a new contract covering grain terminals in the Pacific Northwest was reached on August 11, by a negotiating committee representing five International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) local unions in Vancouver, Portland, Seattle, and Longview.

Negotiations for the new agreement began in August of 2012, involved 70 separate sessions, and included lockouts at Portland’s Columbia Grain and Vancouver’s United Grain facilities.

ILWU members will resume their jobs at the locked-out facilities on Wednesday. All picketing has ceased, and the parties have agreed to drop all pending NLRB and other legal actions associated with the dispute.

“Bargaining was difficult, but in the end, both sides compromised significantly from their original positions, resulting in a workable collective bargaining agreement that preserves the work of the ILWU-represented workforce and fosters stability for the export grain industry,” ILWU said.

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Press Release, August 27, 2014; Image: United Grain Corporation