FTA:"…LONGVIEW, Wash. (AP) — Hundreds of Longshoremen stormed the Port of Longview early Thursday, overpowered and held security guards, damaged railroad cars, and dumped grain that is the center of a labor dispute, said Longview Police Chief Jim Duscha.
Six guards were held hostage for a couple of hours after 500 or more Longshoremen broke down gates about 4:30 a.m. and smashed windows in the guard shack, he said.
No one was hurt, and nobody has been arrested. Most of the protesters returned to their union hall after cutting brake lines and spilling grain from car at the EGT terminal, Duscha said…"
FTA:“…****The International Longshore and Warehouse Union believes it has the right to work at the facility, but the company has hired a contractor that’s staffing a workforce of other union laborers…”
FTA:"…The train was the first grain shipment to arrive at Longview. It arrived Wednesday night after police arrested 1
Somebody call homeland security and have the whole bunch arrested as terrorists. Let’s see if the Patriot Act has teeth in it.
And, oh, yeah, send the Union a bill for the damage to the railroad cars. The Railroad was an innocent bystander, having no part in the terminal’s hiring practices.
Or is there some special subset of exemptions from the law that only apply to union members??? I’m pretty sure that if I did anything similar to UP property here in Sin City I’d be getting a close-up look at the inside of the Clark County Jail, and an appointment with the Judge…
Corporations damaging the livelihoods and financial well being of workers to increase profit is good and fair - patriotic in fact. Workers retaliating by damaging the financial well being of corporations is anti-American communism. That is how it works.
Workers are supposed to just sit back and take it when they are being attacked. For the past 30 years that is exactly what they have done and the middle class is dying as a result.
If I were the owner, these thugs are the last people I would want on my property, let alone have to pay them to be there. Their actions show them to be less than trustworthy with other’s property. They only hurt themselves and their image with actions like this.
The issue in Washington is one union taking (violent) objection to another union doing “their” work, not a union vs nonunion dispute. I’m not at all sure a pejorative word like “scab” applies in that situation.
Another grain train was blocked by Longshoremen and family members yesterday (9/21) at Longview. Major police response eventually cleared the way. This was apparently the same train I saw coming off the Eastern Washington Gateway at Cheney, WA, the night before with a BNSF crew in charge for the first leg on BNSF trackage to Pasco. Not sure how well the ag community in eastern WA is going to like news of their product being delayed. Sympathetic, I’m sure, to the plight of disenfranchised workers. But equally concerned for the timely flow of their exports to their buyers.
Also if anyone HERE has bothered to Research the Local in Question the ONLY way and I MEAN the ONLY WAY to get into it is be a SON or RELATIVE of one of the Current Members. They have taken Neopotism to such an extreme that even the Chicago Machine would be able to TAKE LESSONS from them.
11 Years ago I had to make a Delivery in this port that this local Runs. I was about to run down half of the freaking members by the time I was done there. Lets see here I needed a member to OPEN MY DOORS. Another to chock my wheels another to dolly down my trailer hell I was amazed I was allowed to even Drive my truck on their Scared Port Ground. Since Sept 9th there is a Federal Injuction against the UNION Blocking the Grain Facialty or holding Portests of anykind as they are interferring with INTERSTATE and Global Commerce. There is no way in Hell the Union Boss and he was one of those told in court that any Union Members Spouses and Family Members doing this stuff and the UNION ITSELF will be held in Contempt of COurt. Wonder what the Judge will do now.
BTW the Union is also getting Billed by the COunty for all the overtime the Police and Sherriffs office have incurrred do to their antics.
FTA:"…Union longshoremen on Monday filed a petition to recall Cowlitz County Sheriff Mark Nelson, ratcheting up their campaign against local law enforcement following recent protests against the EGT grain terminal at the Port of Longview…"
FTA:“…At least 135 ILWU protesters and supporters have been arrested so far, including two who were pepper-sprayed repeatedly by Burlington Northern Santa Fe police last Wednesday during a protest on port rail tracks.;;”
FTA:‘…Under Nelson’s direction, law enforcement officers flashed lights in union members’ homes at night, followed them around to arrest them publicly and needlessly racked up about $30,000 in overtime costs to police the protests, union officials contend.
"Cowlitz County has become a battle zone, and Mark Nelson has some of the blame. Citizens depended on law enforcement to decelerate the situation, which Mark Nelson has failed to do. In fact, his officers have contributed to the turmoil and accelerating the atmos
They may be forced into that course of action by this issue?
But this thing seems to be another case of the"Band Plays On…AND ON, AND ON:"
From the TRAINSNewswire of September 29,2011: The following headline:
“BNSF offers reward in track tampering”
FTA: "…
SEATTLE — BNSF Railway will pay up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest or conviction of whomever tampered with its tracks between Vancouver and Chehalis, Wash. The line, which carries about 40 freights and 10 Amtrak trains daily, temporarily shut down Sept. 26 as investigators examined the tracks. Tampering was found inabout a dozen locations along the 60-mile route, the Longview Daily News reported…"
From Birminham,Al CBS 33/40 News: An Associated Press articleby Mike Baker:
### “Judge fines Longshore union $250,000 over tactics”
FTA;"…TACOMA, Wash. (AP) - A federal judge fined a Longshore union $250,000 on Friday for its tactics in a Longview labor dispute, and he warned that individual protesters could face their own penalt
**FTA:"…**I_n a filing last Monday, attorneys argued that the International Longshore and Warehouse Union should not be held in contempt for two incidents that took placed at the EGT grain terminal at the Port of Longview Sept. 7 and 8…"_
FTA:"…****On Sept. 7, more than 300 longshore protesters stood on rail tracks and blocked a train bound for the EGT grain terminal for about four hours. The train eventually passed through. The next morning, hundreds of people broke into the terminal and spilled tons of grain, broke a window in a security shack and damaged a security vehicle.
Leighton ruled these actions violated a civil restraining order, which had been brought about by the National Labor Relations Board.
On Sept. 30, Leighton imposed the $250,000 fine, which was about $42,000 less than EGT and the NLRB had requested. The fine covers damages at the EGT terminal and overtime costs for local law enforcement…"
This last bit of action could sort of be referred to as the “My lawyer can whip your lawyer” Phase of negotiation and setting the issue.
It will be interesting to see what the final outcome is