ILWU Appeals NLRB Ruling

By Mark Edward Nero

The International Longshore & Warehouse Union has officially appealed a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board ordering the union and two locals to not engage in activities at a Port of Portland container terminal that violate federal labor laws.

The banned activities cited by the NLRB include engaging in slowdowns and work stoppages, and using threats and coercion to disrupt the operations of ICTSI Oregon, which operates Portland’s Terminal 6. On Oct. 1, the ILWU and locals 8 and 40 filed a petition with the US Court of Appeals asking it to review the labor board’s late-September decision, which affirms an earlier decision issued by Administrative Law Judge William Schmidt.

Portland’s labor issues are related to a jurisdiction battle between ICTSI, the ILWU and another union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which date back to June 2012. The two unions fought over disputed jobs involving the plugging/unplugging and monitoring of refrigerated containers at Terminal 6.

Since then, workers have walked off the job numerous times due to what the longshore union calls “multiple pay disputes and associated grievances” associated with the “mismanagement” of the terminal.

Elvis Ganda, CEO of ICTSI Oregon said ICTSI is gratified by the NLRB’s September ruling, which rejected the ILWU’s legal arguments.

“Hopefully, this decision will bring us one step closer to ending the ILWU’s orchestrated and illegal campaign to undermine the success of Terminal 6, and to convincing the shipping companies to return to the Port of Portland,” Ganda said in a statement. “A fully functioning, productive Terminal 6 is critical to the regional economy and benefits local businesses, importers, exporters, farmers and workers across various industries – including rank-and-file ILWU longshoremen who have suffered a substantial loss of work as a result of their leaderships’ actions.”

NLRB Awards Portland Jobs to Electricians Union

The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that disputed jobs hooking and unhooking refrigerated containers at the Port of Portland’s Terminal 6 should go to union electricians, rather than a longshore workers union that had tried to commandeer the work.

In a five page decision issued Aug. 13, the three-member NLRB panel said that after reviewing all the information presented before it, it believed that the work in question should be performed by members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, not the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

The dispute dates back to 2011, when ICTSI Oregon entered into a 25-year agreement with the port to operate the dock at Terminal 6, and chose to honor a collective-bargaining agreement between the port and the District Council of Trade Unions, of which the IBEW is a member.

The IBEW has performed the work since operations began at the terminal in 1974.

The ILWU, however, began to claim that under the collective bargaining agreement between the ILWU and the Pacific Maritime Association – of which ICTSI is a member – longshoremen should be doing the work.

“After considering all the relevant factors, we conclude that employees represented by IBEW are entitled to perform the work in dispute,” the NLRB’s decision reads in part. “We reach this conclusion relying on the factors of collective-bargaining agreements and employer preference and past practice. We note that the factor of employer preference, although not itself determinative, is entitled to substantial weight.”

To that point, the board specifically cited the testimony of the Port of Portland’s chief commercial officer, Sam Ruda, who said officials insisted during negotiations with ICTSI that “work jurisdictions be maintained” when the new terminal operator took over the facility.

In June, a noticeable drop in productivity began, coinciding with the escalation of labor dispute. ICTSI Oregon and other stakeholders labeled a work slowdown by ILWU Local 8. Although the union denied it was engaging in a slowdown, a federal judge in July issued an indefinite injunction banning slowdowns pending the results of the NLRB investigation.

The labor issues had resulted in fewer vessel calls at the terminal the past two months, although two shippers, Hanjin and Hapag-Lloyd, resumed service at the port after having bypassed Terminal 6 multiple times earlier in the summer.

The ILWU has yet to confirm whether or not it plans to appeal the NLRB decision.

Judge Extends Portland Labor Injunction

A federal judge has indefinitely extended his previous order mandating that members of a labor union involved in a dispute with marine terminal management not engage in a work slowdown at the Port of Portland.

In his July 19 order, U.S. District Judge Michael Simon ruled that the no-slowdown injunction against the International Longshore and Warehouse Union should stay in effect until the National Labor Relations Board rules on allegations that longshoremen staged slowdowns and made threats against terminal operator ICTSI Oregon.

The previous order banning slowdowns, which Simon issued July 3, expired after 10 days. The new order however, is indefinite; the NLRB could take months to issue a ruling on the charges.

Also on July 19, Judge Simon cleared the ILWU against allegations that it had not adhered to the terms of his July 3 anti-slowdown injunction. The NLRB filed a motion July 6, asking Simon to find the union in contempt of court for not complying with an order the judge issued July 3 barring the union members from “engaging in slowdowns, stoppages, withholding of services, or threatening, coercing or restraining ICTSI Oregon Inc., or any other person engaged in commerce.”

But in his ruling, the judge said that although some longshoremen may have worked at a slower than normal speed at the port’s Terminal 6 while unloading a German container ship the day following the order, those dockworkers may not have gotten word of the injunction barring slowdowns.

The labor dispute’s origins go back to earlier this year, when the ILWU began insisting that its contract with the Pacific Maritime Association requires the terminal operator to hire longshore workers to handle the plugging and unplugging of refrigerated containers, work that until recently had been performed by another union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Although the ILWU has denied an orchestrated slowdown, work productivity began noticeably slowing down at Terminal 6 in June.

The next containership at Portland is due to arrive on Aug. 4.

NLRB Accuses Union of Resuming Work Slowdown

The National Labor Relations Board is accusing the International Labor and Warehouse Union of not adhering to the stipulations of a restraining order that was put in place by a federal judge last week regarding work at the Port of Portland’s Terminal 6.

The NLRB filed a motion with US District Judge Michael Simon July 6, asking him to find the union in contempt of court for not complying with an order the judge issued July 3. In his order, Simon barred the union members from “engaging in slowdowns, stoppages, withholding of services, or threatening, coercing or restraining ICTSI Oregon Inc., or any other person engaged in commerce” over a 10-day period.

On July 4, the Cape Manila, a 696-foot container ship operated by German-based Hapag-Lloyd called at Terminal 6 and no problems with work flow were reported during the day.

But according to the port and labor relations board attorney Ann Pomerantz, union workers have continued to conduct a work slowdown in the days since the ship’s arrival. Typically, about 27 containers are moved per hour at the port, but in the days since the restraining order was put in place, about 22 cans are being moved hourly, the port has estimated.

The NLRB is requesting an expedited hearing on the matter. The next container ship arrival at the port is scheduled for later this week.

Under the labor dispute, the ILWU says its contract with the Pacific Maritime Association requires the terminal operator to hire longshore workers to handle the plugging and unplugging of refrigerated containers, work that until recently had been performed by another union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The ILWU, which has previously denied conducting a slowdown has so far declined to comment on the court filing.