International Longshore and Warehouse Union President Robert
McEllrath is being retried in a Cowlitz County, Washington court on charges that
he helped obstruct a train during protests at a Port of Longview grain terminal
last summer.
The retrial began Sept. 26 in Cowlitz County District Court.
McEllrath was first tried in District Court last June, but the two-day trial ended
after the six jurists hearing the case couldn’t agree on a verdict, resulting in
a hung jury.
The union head is accused of a misdemeanor charge of obstructing
a train during a Sept. 7, 2011 protest at the EGT grain terminal. Prosecutors contend
he directed ILWU members and supporters to block a grain delivery train.
At the time, ILWU Local 21 was in a dispute with terminal operator
EGT over EGT’s usage of labor. The local had contended that its contract with the
Port of Longview required that the 25 to 35 jobs inside the terminal go to ILWU
workers. The company, however, said its lease agreement with the port did not specify
ILWU workers. Members of International Union of Operating Engineers Local 701 had
been working at the terminal.
The labor issue was settled under an agreement ratified by the
port Jan. 27, which states that all labor at the terminal must be dispatched through
the Local 21 union hall.
Although McEllrath had been the highest-ranking union member
charged in the case, he was not the only one. In March, the president of the Local
21 chapter and a member of the union’s executive board both pleaded guilty to charges
related to last summer’s protests at the terminal.
McEllrath has denied the charge, saying he had no control over
the crowd during the protest.
