International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 40, which
represents dockworkers in Portland, Oregon, has filed a federal lawsuit against
exporter Columbia Grain of violating labor law by refusing to arbitrate a grievance.
In its suit, which was filed in Portland on March 26, Local 40
states that back on Jan. 21, it filed a grievance against Columbia Grain challenging
lost work under the union’s labor contract.
The lawsuit contends that Columbia Grain, which operates the
40-acre Terminal 5 site at the Port of Portland, wrongfully stopped using union
marine clerks. Also according to the complaint, a Columbia Grain attorney told
the union on Feb. 7 that the company wouldn’t process the grievance it had
filed against the non-usage of clerks.
The union claims the terminal operator’s actions are in
violation of the federal Labor Management Relations Act, which requires
employers to arbitrate grievances governed by the arbitration provisions of a
collective bargaining agreement. The suit asks a judge to order the company
into arbitration with the union.
The lawsuit is unrelated to the ongoing lockout of ILWU workers
at the United Grain terminal in Vancouver, Washington. United Grain locked out
union workers from the terminal on Feb. 27, after accusing a union official who
worked there of sabotaging equipment in retaliation for contentious ongoing contract
negotiations.
In that case, ILWU Local 4, which represents about 250
workers in Vancouver, Washington, has filed an unfair labor practice charge
against Mitsui-United Grain Corp. for the lockout of its workforce at the Port
of Vancouver USA.
The lawsuits and grievances are tied to a larger, ongoing
dispute between the ILWU and three Pacific Northwest grain handlers – Columbia
Grain and LD Commodities in Portland and United Grain in Vancouver, Washington –
all of which locked out ILWU workers after the sabotage accusations.
The union has been involved in on-and-off contract
negotiations with the grain handlers association since September 2012, but
talks broke down earlier this year and no further discussions have been
scheduled.
