Despite rumors of an impending
lockout, contract negotiations were scheduled to resume this week between the
Pacific Northwest Grain Handlers Association and International Longshore and
Warehouse Union, according to a federal mediator.
The parties were slated to resume
negotiations Oct. 29 upon the request of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation
Service, an independent US government agency whose mission is to preserve and
promote labor-management peace and cooperation.
“Due to the sensitivity of this
high profile dispute and consistent with the Agency’s longstanding practice, we
will not disclose either the location of the meeting or the content of the
substantive negotiations that will take place,” the FMCS said in a statement.
The negotiating parties have also
agreed to an FMCS request that they refrain from public comments regarding the
status of negotiations, according to the federal agency.
The Pacific Northwest Grain
Handlers Association represents four companies: Columbia Grain, which operates
a Port of Portland terminal; United Grain Corp., which has an export terminal
at the Port of Vancouver in Washington; LD Commodities, operator of facilities
in Portland and Seattle; and TEMCO, which has facilities in Kalama, Portland
and Tacoma.
The association began
negotiations with the union in early September. The owners group has said it
wants a contract similar to what was worked out between management and
longshore workers at the Port of Longview earlier this year for the port’s EGT
grain terminal. The contract includes several cost-saving workplace rules.
The union says it won’t budge on
some concessions the owners want, such as 12-hour work shifts, an ability to
bypass the union hiring hall, and being given greater control over the ability
to fire dockworkers.
Despite the increasingly
contentious negotiations, there have been no reported labor disruptions at any
of the affected terminals so far. The union says plans are underway to organize
boat pickets on the Columbia and Willamette rivers if a lockout occurs.
The FMCS, which was created in
1947, is headquartered in Washington, DC and has 10 district offices and 67
field offices across the US The agency provides mediation and conflict
resolution services to industry, government agencies and communities.
