Free Republic

<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>

Vancouver, WA - BNSF Railway is offering a reward for information in connection to the suspected tampering of railroad tracks that delayed nine trains in Southwest Washington on Monday. The railroad is offering an up to $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of person or persons responsible for tampering with tracks between Vancouver and Chehalis on Monday, spokesman Gus Melonas said. Anyone with information should call the crime tip hotline at 1-800-832-5452, he said. Informants aren’t required to give their name to get the reward. Officials discovered the tampering just before 11 a.m. Monday near the...

Shippers file data they say proves work slowdown By Donna Littlejohn DAILY BREEZE Shipping companies filed productivity numbers Wednesday with the U.S. Justice Department that they say proves there is a “concerted, systematic work slowdown” by the longshore union. The Pacific Maritime Association, representing shipping companies in the ongoing contract dispute with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, said it has documented significant declines in productivity. Container movements are down 9 percent in the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the PMA said, but the figures were higher at other West Coast ports: 34 percent in Oakland, 29 percent...