Pretty quiet in Longview this weekend, the heat and humidity have had a tempering effect on what has heretofore been one of the more aggressive action by union workers in decades. Security forces of various types are still ever-so-conspicuously present, but for the moment all is quiet on the Longview Front.
Some of the latest developments:
ILWU files suit alleging police brutality in grain terminal dispute
"The ILWU is filing this lawsuit to stop the abuse of longshore workers and their supporters who are being violently pursued and intentionally prosecuted for exercising their free speech and associational rights,” said ILWU International President Bob McEllrath in a statement. “Longshore workers and their supporters are no longer free to move about their hometown without fear of being ambushed in front of children and families by an overzealous, out-of-control Police Chief and Sheriff. This blatant abuse of authority has to stop."
http://www.katu.com/news/local/130392743.html
A positive result:
EGT driver charged with hit and run — four weeks after incident and one day after ILWU files civil rights lawsuit
Law enforcement officials refused for weeks to take action against the EGT-associated driver who on August 29 was caught on video appearing to have intentionally run down two longshore workers, failed to render aid, failed to report an accident, and left the scene of the accident. On Thursday, September 22, the ILWU filed a civil rights lawsuit for rough treatment of longshore union members, and the next day the county prosecutor’s office finally announced it would charge the EGT driver with two felony charges of hit-and-run. Will EGT’s driver be publically arrested and required to post bail like the longshore workers?
http://www.longshoreshippingnews.com/2011/09/egt-worker-charged-finally/
At the heart of the conflict is EGT's decision to hire workers from Operating Engineers local 701. This contemptible action by the multinational, and the even more loathsome cooperation of OE 701, prompted a written response by the ILWU, reproduced here in its entirety:
Dear Brothers and Sisters of IUOE Local 701,
We are the members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU).
In 2006, IUOE Local 701 had a labor dispute at the Port of Portland’s Terminal 4. The ILWU refused to cross Local 701′s picket line. We forced several ships to stay idle to help you get the agreement you needed.
Today, a multinational corporation called EGT Development is trying to use Local 701 to undermine the ILWU, and it is hurting your relationships with other unions.
For generations, the ILWU has worked all West Coast docks and grain export terminals. We are constantly honing our safety procedures because grain is very dangerous work. Many of our people have died, including one man who fell to his death in a grain elevator just a couple of years ago in Vancouver.
EGT’s collusion with Local 701 is already hurting your union. Recently, Mark Holliday and Nelda Wilson signed a contract with EGT to take away the work that we do in every other grain export terminal in the Northwest.
The officers at Local 701 will try and make you believe that getting jobs at any cost is a good idea. But already the backlash against 701 has been swift, severe and will be long-lasting unless 701 stops colluding with the employer to undermine another union. Just Google “701″ and “EGT” and you will see that other union members feel betrayed and disgusted that Local 701 is dirtying itself by colluding with EGT against another union. Just last week, the Oregon AFL-CIO Executive Board passed a resolution condemning the actions of Local 701 and called these actions “scab labor.”
We know Local 701′s collusion with EGT is a decision that was made above your head, but you don’t need to stand for it. We are here today to ask you, as union brothers and sisters, to refuse to assist in the union-busting efforts of EGT and to honor our jurisdiction….just as we did in 2006 when IUOE 701 had a labor dispute at Terminal 4.
Someday, you will need to support of other unions to keep your own union job secure. It’s not worth it to sell your union’s credibility and support from other unions forever just for a handful of jobs today.
Remember, solidarity goes both ways!
In 1934, our grandfathers fought and died to form our union. We have supported other unions, including yours, for many decades since that time. An injury to one is an injury to all.
Signed,
Your brothers and sisters of the ILWU
[http://www.longshoreshippingnews.com/2011/08/open-letter-to-the-men-and-women-of-operating-engineers-local-701/]
This plea fell on apathetic ears, but the reluctance on the part of the OE elicited this rebuke from the Oregon Building Trades Council:
Whereas, the purpose of a labor union is to leverage the collective power of workers to improve and protect the working conditions and standard of living of working men and women; and
Whereas, the strength of each union and the union movement as a whole depends on the unity of all of the members therein; and
Whereas, OE Local 701 has not only agreed to work in collusion with the employer on the docks at Longview but has also sided with the multinational, union-busting employer in the media against the ILWU longshore collective actions at the Port of Longview;
Therefore, be it resolved that the OBTC state federation Executive Board and its local union affiliates condemn in the strongest way possible the raiding activity of OE Local 701, and finally;
Be it resolved that the OBTC state federation send a letter to OE Local 701 demanding that Local 701 immediately cease and desist from allowing its members to displace ILWU longshoremen at the EGT facility in the Port of Longview.
[http://www.longshoreshippingnews.com/2011/09/oregon-state-building-trades-condemns-oe-local-701-for-raiding-at-egt/]
The ILWU Ladies Auxiliary, backed by local radical feminists who understand the importance of this strike, condemned police tactics:
bout 50 women, most of them members of the International Warehouse and Longshore Union's Ladies Auxiliary, staged a protest in West Kelso Saturday afternoon, alleging their members were brutalized by police during a protest at the EGT grain terminal Wednesday.
Nearly a dozen female protesters arrested as they helped block a train carrying grain to the Longview terminal complained of back injury, sprains and strains to their shoulders, said Karin Hogg of Longview, who identified herself as the Ladies Auxiliary vice president. One woman was diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff, she said.
Hogg noted that security officers employed by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad arrested the women Wednesday, but she said local law enforcement officers watched. "Many of them laughed and they were high-fiving and fist-pumping," Hogg said of the local police.
"We wanted to come out and let everybody know this isn't OK," Hogg said.
Read more: http://tdn.com/news/local/article_41e7df04-e71f-11e0-a311-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1YzzfTA7t
Here are some letters to the local rag:
http://tdn.com/news/opinion/article_3fc59e1a-e633-11e0-82c2-001cc4c002e0.html
The good news is that people are fighting back against capitalism. And better still they are receiving overwhelming support from the people of Longview. In the photo above one cop wears a shirt which reads no Wisconsin here. While his attitude probably doesn't reflect the opinion of most local police who are privately sympathetic, it does represent how far the state is willing to go to blunt any threat to its dominance or the profits and privilege of the class whose interests it serves.
