Free Republic

KEY POINTS • PMA announces the Port of Seattle is entirely shut down to due to a coordinated labor disruption. • The Port of Seattle is one of the top maritime ports in North America that U.S. ag exporters rely on to ship their produce and grain. • AgTC warns the shutdown tarnishes the reputation of U.S. ag exports as being reliable. The labor strife continues on the west coast with the announcement of the Port of Seattle shutting down due to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) refusing to dispatch labor to work at the container terminals. This...

A massive shutdown of America’s supply chain is now in progress because of a labor dispute between dockworkers and their employers. The average dock worker, according to Zero Hedge, makes about $145,000 per year plus some $80,000 per year in benefits, but apparently their overtime pay is insufficient, which has led to widespread strikes at the nation’s busiest ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach. The ports are now being partially shut down for at least the next four days, but the months-long dispute has already led to hundreds of container ships and tractor-trailers being left in limbo (see pictures...

The Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) announced that loading and unloading operations at all 29 West Coast ports would temporarily be suspended this weekend in response to union slowdowns that brought freight movements at the ports to a near standstill. PMA members stated that they cannot afford the almost $1,200 per day cost to employ International Longshore and Warehouse Union members to do little work. After Breitbart broke the story on Thursday that union members of the ILWU planned to “walk out within the week,” the PMA employer group announced they can no longer continue to pay workers the premium pay...

Reflections on the days when a labor leader led our nation, on the great man's birthday... As the author writes this column, dozens of ships, each one laden with tens of thousands of truckloads of cargo, are sitting in the Pacific, parked for weeks at a time in a line, waiting for the longshoremen to stop their slowdown and get back to work. Modern containerships are measured in TEUs, a unit of measure specific to the transportation industry. The standard intermodal container (so-called because it can be transported by truck, rail, or ship, easily transferred from one to the next...

The West Coast port slowdowns are hurting workers as well as retailers this holiday season.The NBC affiliate in Seattle reported that many of those who work for the ports can’t afford utilities or Christmas gifts for their families because the slowdowns have delayed their paychecks. The work slowdowns are the result of a seven-month labor dispute between the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). Each side of the dispute blames the other.Vicki Raiter, the mother of one of the Port of Tacoma workers, told the local NBC affiliate, “If the shipments aren’t coming, then...

As the calendar turns to July today, summer is fully intact, but the West Coast ports labor situation is still apparently chilly. With the deadline for labor contract negotiations between ILWU (the International Longshore Warehouse Union) and the Pacific Maritime Association arriving aft midnight last night, the current status remains in flux as neither party is publicly commenting on their talks, which have been ongoing since May 12. The ILWU represents nearly 14,000 port workers in California, Oregon, and Washington, with more than 40 percent of U.S. incoming container traffic moving through West Coast ports at the Ports of Los...

This is a link to a posting that appeared on my Facebook Page this morning from a Republican Affiliated / Libertarian affiliated group that was organized to support the Gateway Pacific Coal terminal. I don't know how to post a picture, but it is the GIF on the page that is of interest. It is a picture of the socialist fist over a housing development. The group, Save Whatcom uses variations of a green fist, rather than the red fist, but it is still a fist. http://whatcomteaparty.org/attention-local-land-owners-and-well-owners-part-two/

Longshore Union Quits the AFL-CIO In a surprise move, the 40,000-member International Longshore and Warehouse Union announced its disaffiliation from the AFL-CIO yesterday. The news comes just a week before the federation is set to hold its national convention in Los Angeles, the nation’s biggest port and an ILWU stronghold.. The ILWU, known for its militant traditions and progressive politics, has been drawn into turf wars with other unions in recent years—particularly in the grain export terminals of the Pacific Northwest, where longshore workers have been locked in a high-stakes battle over master contract standards since 2011. - See more...

Scores of out-of-state strikebreakers wait on high alert in Northwest hotel rooms, ready to replace longshoremen in case of a lockout at grain terminals. Three fully crewed, non-union tugboats protected by armed guards stand by, prepared to keep grain ships docking. In a provocative move, a California company has moored the tugs on the Willamette River near longshore Local 8's Northwest Portland union hall. Quietly, owners of Portland, Vancouver and Puget Sound terminals have spent months preparing for a battle royal on the waterfront, lining up troops and assets like chess pieces. The agribusiness giants have laid legal groundwork for...

United States Coast Guard. Image by U.S. Coast Guard President Barack Obama’s administration has ordered the United States Coast Guard to protect grain ships at the Port of Longview from violent “Occupy” protesters and dockworker union members, according to a local news report. The Daily News in Longview, Wash., reported that the Coast Guard will protect a grain shipment from an onslaught of “Occupy” protesters and members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). The ship will be transporting grain to Asia. A date for the shipment has not yet been set. The group of leftwing activists had shut...

Dear Sisters and Brothers,On behalf of 40,000 members in the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), I want to thank you for organizing your “Occupy Wall Street” protest in New York City which is inspiring millions of Americans.Most of us are tired of seeing a handful of the richest corporations and executives behave as though they’re entitled to live like kings at everyone’s expense:They aren’t paying their fair share of taxes, so schools are cutting back and colleges are raising fees – leaving students with obscene debts.  It’s time for the millionaires – the richest 1% – to start paying...

<p>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 penalties for future violations of his orders.</p> <p>U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton has already held the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in contempt for blocking a train and storming a grain terminal earlier this month. Authorities have said the protesters overpowered security guards, damaged railroad cars and dumped grain.</p>

A federal judge has fined a Longshore union $250,000 for its tactics in a Longview labor dispute. ~snip~ Leighton says he rounded down to be cautious and ordered additional penalties for future violations.

As you read this 9/11 "memorial" missive to rank-and-file union members, bear in mind that its author -- AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka -- was an honored presidential guest at last night's campaign rally disguised as a "jobs speech." This is much, much more offensive than Jimmy Hoffa, Jr.'s juvenile "SOB's" slur on Monday. Without further ado, I present top White House ally Richard Trumka's reflections on the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001 (emphasis mine): All of us will remember the horror and anguish we experienced 10 years ago. Whether we lost loved ones ourselves—family members, union brothers and sisters—or...

Between Richard Trumka's special invitation to the president's "jobs speech," his despicable AFL-CIO 9/11 "tribute" essay, and the AFL-CIO affiliated ILWU's riot and hostage-taking in Washington State, we've been discussing organized labor quite a lot this week. Luckily for the embattled unions, a reporter from Portland, Oregon-based KGW-TV ventured over to the local ILWU headquarters to cover their side of the story. A friendly, staid, and eloquent employee greeted the news crew and calmly explained the situation. Just kidding. He went ballistic, screeching every profane slur in the book, and threatening to commit physical assault and destroy their equipment. *Extreme*...

News Release from: Cowlitz Co. (WA) Sheriff's Office SHERIFF GIVES MORE INFO ON PROTEST INCIDENT-CAR JACKING Posted: September 9th, 2011 6:01 PM Kelso, WA - With officers far outnumbered by protesters, Sheriff's deputies, police officers and Washington State Patrol troopers had to back off to a defensive position during Wednesday's ILWU rally due to threats to their safety. "Our teams of 4 or 5 officers were confronted by baseball bat and axe handle wielding protesters." Said Cowlitz County Sheriff Mark Nelson. "They had their protest signs attached to bats and axe handles. When we attempted to make simple, misdemeanor arrests...

<p>A member of a Pacific Northwest longshoreman’s union verbally attacked a news crew that showed up at the union’s local headquarters in Longview, Washington. The assault was captured on a video that hit YouTube Friday morning.</p> <p>“I’m from KGW and I wanted to know if there was anyone here who would want to talk to us about the situation,” a Portland, Ore. television correspondent is seen asking while knocking on the building’s door.</p>

LONGVIEW, Wash. (AP) — Hundreds of Longshore workers 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 detained 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,...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - More than 500 protesting port workers stormed the EGT grain terminal at the Port of Longview, Washington, on Thursday and damaged railcars and other property, Longview Police Chief Jim Duscha said. The incident came a day after several of Longshoremen were arrested after blocking a train from arriving at the newly constructed facility owned by EGT, LLC, which is a joint venture of Bunge Ltd, ITOCHU International Inc and STX Pan Ocean Inc. Early on Thursday, the protesters stormed the EGT facility, smashed guard shack windows, pushed a security vehicle into a ditch, cut brake lines on...

A band I was in years ago had a song titled, “Sheet Rockers vs. Aluminum Siders,” about a fight our singer saw at work on a construction site. I was reminded of it earlier today, when members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) stormed the Port of Longview, Washington, where they held security guards hostage, blocked a train, and destroyed property, damaging railroad cars and dumping grain. They were protesting the hiring at a grain terminal by the employer, EGT, of a contractor employing workers belonging to a different union, the Operating Engineers. Such union turf battles are...