LONGVIEW, Wash. – A major labor dispute appears to be ending, as International Longshore and Warehouse Union members began to work at grain terminal operator EGT at the Port of Longview.
Grain had been waiting in facility, and on Wednesday the first cargo ship docked at the terminal. The Longshoremen began to fill it with 57,000 metric tons of Washington state wheat.
Photos: Ship arrives in port
“It’s a very positive day-- as you see we’ve got our men down there tying up and we’ve got men in the plant working … we went through a six month battle since the summer to get this work,” said Byron Jacobs, the secretary-treasurer for ILWU Local 21.
Last year the Longshoremen’s union picketed and protested EGT, because the operator was using other union workers to run the facility. The ILWU argued they had the historical and legal right to be working at the terminal. There were arrests of ILWU members as the protests got out of control.
A settlement in the labor dispute brokered by Washington State Governor Chris Gregoire two weeks ago ended the impasse.
“This development helps strengthen the partnership between EGT and local workers from the ILWU and we look forward to continuing to work together,” said EGT CEO Larry Clarke.
The port is pleased, too, to see an agreement, and a formal contract was expected soon, between the two sides.
“It’s a big relief that there is no controversy with it, that everybody’s going to be making money, it’s just a win-win,” said Port Commissioner Bob Bagaason.
