Security guards set to strike at Port of Portland

  • By Steven Dubois Associated Press
  • Friday, November 23, 2012 8:36pm
  • Business

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Port of Portland has endured a triple play of labor problems this year, and it’s now preparing for its first longshore union strike in decades.

Marine terminal security guards represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union plan to strike Sunday because contract talks that began in June 2011 have failed to yield an agreement. The longshoremen who load and unload ships are expected to honor the picket line, effectively closing three terminals.

State mediator Robert Nightingale joins talks Saturday in a final effort to avoid a work stoppage that would disrupt the flow of shipping containers, auto imports and other cargo.

The strike possibility has led some businesses to use ports on Puget Sound, and shipping lines were evaluating whether to bypass the city. When ships are diverted and cargo rerouted, that adds costs, and potentially harmful delays for imports or exports of perishable or seasonal items.

The long-range concern is some shippers might permanently skip the port because of the labor issues. Portland’s Terminal 6 is by far the smallest of the West Coast’s six container-shipping ports, and it’s already at a disadvantage with other Pacific ports because it’s about 100 miles from the ocean.

“As long as it’s a temporary disruption and we don’t lose any shippers, or we don’t lose any manufacturing expansions as a result of their fear that they can’t move their goods, we’ll be OK,” state economist Mark McMullen said. “As long as it’s short term, it should just be a disruption and not a disaster.”

The sides agree on most aspects of a contract, but workers want an assurance their jobs won’t disappear if terminal operators or carriers want to hire their own, lower-cost security personnel. Port officials believe companies would be more likely to do business in Portland if they’re not handcuffed to job guarantees.

“They’d probably call it a job guarantee; we characterize it as an outsourcing problem,” union spokesman Craig Merrilees said.

The pending strike is just one of three separate labor conflicts at the Port of Portland.

The first began this summer when the ILWU and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers clashed over which union should have the job of plugging and unplugging refrigerated shipping containers. The National Labor Relations Board and a federal judge concluded that longshoremen engaged in slowdown tactics during the dispute, causing truck traffic to be backed up for more than a mile.

Two major shipping lines that use Terminal 6 — Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd AG and South Korea’s Hanjin — briefly diverted ships during the tension. Though the National Labor Relations Board eventually concluded the work belongs to the electrical workers, the longshore union continues to fight for the jobs.

Separately, in a standoff that involves several ports, the union contract between longshoremen and companies that operate grain terminals on Columbia River and Puget Sound expired Sept. 30. The companies have made what they say is their last offer, and are awaiting a response.

A strike or lockout would disrupt trans-Pacific grain shipments, affecting U.S. farmers export wheat, corn and soybeans to Asia.

But the current focus is on 25 security guards from Local 28, and how longshoremen would respond to their walkout.

In a failed attempt to win in emergency injunction preventing a strike, port lawyers said this week that, in 2011, marine cargo at Portland Harbor generated $6.2 billion in total economic activity in the region and supported about 18,000 jobs. They warned that farmers wouldn’t be able to export perishable products during a strike and mills that depend on steel scrap might have to close.

“The port believes that a strike would have a great negative impact on our local economy, and we’re going to continue all efforts to avoid that strike, including mediation, arbitration and all the routes we have,” said Kama Simonds, a port spokesman.

Merrilees said the union is also anxious to get a deal done, but the guards feel the port’s offer “is the beginning of a race to the bottom.”

“The port is a source of good-paying, blue-collar jobs that are increasingly hard to find,” he said. “The port should be standing up and advocating for those jobs.”

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Business

Black Press Media operates Sound Publishing, the largest community news organization in Washington State with dailies and community news outlets in Alaska.
Black Press Media concludes transition of ownership

Black Press Media, which operates Sound Publishing, completed its sale Monday (March 25), following the formerly announced corporate restructuring.

Maygen Hetherington, executive director of the Historic Downtown Snohomish Association, laughs during an interview in her office on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, in Snohomish, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Maygen Hetherington: tireless advocate for the city of Snohomish

Historic Downtown Snohomish Association receives the Opportunity Lives Here award from Economic Alliance.

FILE - Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs poses in front of photos of the 15 people who previously held the office on Nov. 22, 2021, after he was sworn in at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. Hobbs faces several challengers as he runs for election to the office he was appointed to last fall. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs: ‘I wanted to serve my country’

Hobbs, a former Lake Stevens senator, is the recipient of the Henry M. Jackson Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Mark Duffy poses for a photo in his office at the Mountain Pacific Bank headquarters on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Mark Duffy: Building a hometown bank; giving kids an opportunity

Mountain Pacific Bank’s founder is the recipient of the Fluke Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Barb Tolbert poses for a photo at Silver Scoop Ice Cream on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Barb Tolbert: Former mayor piloted Arlington out of economic brink

Tolbert won the Elson S. Floyd Award, honoring a leader who has “created lasting opportunities” for the underserved.

Photo provided by 
Economic Alliance
Economic Alliance presented one of the Washington Rising Stem Awards to Katie Larios, a senior at Mountlake Terrace High School.
Mountlake Terrace High School senior wins state STEM award

Katie Larios was honored at an Economic Alliance gathering: “A champion for other young women of color in STEM.”

The Westwood Rainier is one of the seven ships in the Westwood line. The ships serve ports in the Pacific Northwest and Northeast Asia. (Photo provided by Swire Shipping)
Westwood Shipping Lines, an Everett mainstay, has new name

The four green-hulled Westwood vessels will keep their names, but the ships will display the Swire Shipping flag.

A Keyport ship docked at Lake Union in Seattle in June 2018. The ship spends most of the year in Alaska harvesting Golden King crab in the Bering Sea. During the summer it ties up for maintenance and repairs at Lake Union. (Keyport LLC)
In crabbers’ turbulent moment, Edmonds seafood processor ‘saved our season’

When a processing plant in Alaska closed, Edmonds-based business Keyport stepped up to solve a “no-win situation.”

Angela Harris, Executive Director of the Port of Edmonds, stands at the port’s marina on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, in Edmonds, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Leadership, love for the Port of Edmonds got exec the job

Shoring up an aging seawall is the first order of business for Angela Harris, the first woman to lead the Edmonds port.

The Cascade Warbirds fly over Naval Station Everett. (Sue Misao / The Herald file)
Bothell High School senior awarded $2,500 to keep on flying

Cascade Warbirds scholarship helps students 16-21 continue flight training and earn a private pilot’s certificate.

Rachel Gardner, the owner of Musicology Co., a new music boutique record store on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024 in Edmonds, Washington. Musicology Co. will open in February, selling used and new vinyl, CDs and other music-related merchandise. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Edmonds record shop intends to be a ‘destination for every musician’

Rachel Gardner opened Musicology Co. this month, filling a record store gap in Edmonds.

MyMyToyStore.com owner Tom Harrison at his brick and mortar storefront on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Burst pipe permanently closes downtown Everett toy store

After a pipe flooded the store, MyMyToystore in downtown Everett closed. Owner Tom Harrison is already on to his next venture.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.