The Pacific Northwest Grain
Handlers Association, a consortium of Northwest grain shippers, has said it
has agreed to temporarily extend its expiring contract with the International Longshore
and Warehouse Union.
The contract between the
groups was set to expire Sept. 30, but the grain handlers group announced Sept.
28 that it had agreed with the union to push the expiration date back two weeks.
“The parties have agreed
to continue bargaining and have scheduled a number of sessions between now and the
middle of October,” according to a Grain Handlers Association statement.
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 involving Puget Sound terminals and operations on the Columbia River
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.
There have been no reported
labor disruptions so far, but stakes in the negotiations are high; Pacific Northwest
terminals are a major exporter of grain in the US barring a work interruption caused
by labor issues, facilities in Oregon and Washington are expected to ship out nearly
half of 33 million metric tons of wheat to other countries this year.
