The US Dept. of Agriculture on Aug. 7 sent a letter to a Port of Vancouver USA grain terminal operator criticizing both the tenant and port for its handling of a situation involving picketing longshore workers and alleged intimidation of federal grain inspectors.
In the letter to terminal operator United Grain Corp., Dept.
of Agriculture Administrator Lawrence Mitchell states that federal grain
inspectors shall be withheld from the terminal until such a time that the
safety of inspectors can be guaranteed.
“I have determined that GIPSA (the Grain Inspection, Packers
& Stockyards Administration) will continue to conditionally withhold
inspection services at the UGC facility in Vancouver, Wash. because the current
safety situation at the Port of Vancouver does not ensure that FGIS (Federal
Grain Inspection Service) inspectors will have safe access to the facility,”
the letter reads in part.
Mitchell does state, however, that the situation will be
reviewed again if and when a safety assessment and risk mitigation plan is
received.
The government stopped supplying grain inspectors for the
UGC terminal in July, after Washington Gov. Jay Inslee halted the practice of
supplying troopers to escort inspectors in and out of the terminal past
picketing international Longshore & Warehouse Union members.
Inslee’s office has said it had been previously made clear
that the escorts were only a temporary measure meant to give United Grain Corp.
time to hammer out a labor contract with the ILWU.
In response to the pulling of the escort, inspectors have
refused to enter the terminal, citing safety concerns, leading United Grain to
halt grain shipments and effectively shutter operations at the terminal for the
time being.
The labor dispute between United Grain Corp. and the ILWU
has been ongoing at the port for 17 months and law enforcement escorts of the
grain inspectors dates back to September 2013.
The escorts began in response to an incident the prior month
when one inspector filed a police report saying that they were verbally
harassed while crossing the picket line.
