ILWU Head Convicted of Obstruction

After a three-day trial in Cowlitz County, Washington Superior Court, International Longshore and Warehouse Union International President Robert McEllrath was convicted Sept. 28 of a misdemeanor charge of obstructing a train bound for the Port of Longview’s EGT grain terminal during a protest last year.

After a six-person jury found McEllrath guilty, he was sentenced to serve one day in jail, with 89 other days suspended. He was also ordered to pay $543 in fines.

At the time of the Sept. 7, 2011 protest, which ultimately led to the conviction, ILWU Local 21 had been in a dispute with terminal operator EGT over EGT’s labor usage. The local had contended that its contract with the Port of Longview required that the 25 to 35 jobs inside the terminal go to ILWU workers.

The company, however, said its lease agreement with the port did not specify ILWU workers. Members of International Union of Operating Engineers Local 701 had been working at the terminal.

“Fighting for good jobs in America shouldn’t be a crime,” McEllrath said following his arrest.

He was first tried in District Court last June, but the two-day trial ended after the six jurists hearing the case couldn’t agree on a verdict, resulting in a hung jury.

Before being sentenced after the retrial, he was unrepentant, telling the court he had “no regrets about leading men and women against corporate greed and helping them fight to protect middle class jobs in America.”

The labor issue was eventually settled under an agreement ratified by the port Jan. 27 and signed with the union in early February. Under it, all labor at the terminal must be dispatched through the Local 21 union hall.

Although McEllrath, who is based in San Francisco, is the highest-ranking union member convicted in the case, the president of the Local 21 chapter and a member of the union’s executive board both pleaded guilty in March to charges related to last summer’s protests.

ILWU dockworkers at a handful of Pacific Northwest seaports reportedly walked off the job Sept. 28 in protest of the conviction, including at the Port of Portland and Port of Longview, where a handful of union members left after the verdict was read around 4 pm. They then returned to work one to two hours later and no major disruptions of workflow were reported.

Grain Shippers, Union Extend Contract Talks

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.

Crowley Hires New Project Ops VP

Capt. Alex Sweeney has joined Crowley Maritime Corp.’s solutions group as vice president of project operations. Sweeney, who most recently served as vice president of operations for Crowley’s petroleum distribution group in Alaska, is expected to remain in Anchorage and report to vice president of project management Michael Johnson.

In his new role, Sweeney will be responsible for the planning, coordination and management of select solutions projects. He will also assist the solutions business development team in pursuing project opportunities.

“We are excited to have Captain Sweeney as a part of our project management organization,” solution division vice president Craig Tornga said. “He brings great experience to our team, especially his quality management practices which complements our project management processes and our customers project goals.”

Sweeney began his career with Crowley in 1980, working on tugboats, and according to the company, his experience spans across all sectors of the maritime industry. Crowley officials said they believe his experience working in remote locations and the Arctic is expected be an invaluable asset to the solutions team.

Crowley’s solutions group provides marine solutions as a prime contractor for the energy and resource extraction industries. The specialized team provides turnkey marine solutions.

POLB Welcomes Largest-Ever Container Vessel

The MSC Beatrice has become the largest-ever container vessel to dock at the Port of Long Beach. On the morning of Sept. 30, the ship – which is 1,200 feet long, 167 feet wide and capable of carrying 13,798 TEUs – docked at Long Beach’s Pier T on Terminal Island.

Until this year, the largest container ships serving North America had capacities of about 10,000 TEUs. Ships carrying up to 12,500 TEUs began calling at the Port of Long Beach earlier in 2012.

“The new ships are bigger and greener and we’re pleased to be able to accommodate these vessels at the Port of Long Beach,” port Executive Director Chris Lytle said. “We’re among the few ports that are ‘big ship ready,’ and that means that we can continue to bring cargo to Long Beach in the most sustainable way possible.”

The MSC Beatrice, which was built in South Korea in 2009 and is operated by Switzerland-based Mediterranean Shipping Co., is the latest of the new generation of big container ships to be put into service on US-Asia trade routes.

It arrived in Long Beach from Yantian, China and is currently scheduled to depart Southern California for the Port of Oakland the morning of Oct. 4.

Calif. Gov. Vetoes Shore Power Bill

California Gov. Jerry Brown has vetoed a bill that would have required the state Air Resources Board to reimburse 90 percent of project costs of certain shore power electrification projects. In its place, he issued an executive order mandating the ARB amend its program guidelines.

Senate Bill 234, which was returned without the governor’s signature Sept. 25, would have mandated that each port pay the retrofit costs upfront and then the state would reimburse funds on a quarterly basis. But in a statement explaining his veto, Brown said the legislation would have circumvented accountability standards.

“Allowing only a 10 percent withholding does not afford the necessary insurance that the state’s seaports have the commitment and resources necessary to see the project to completion,” he wrote.

The statement goes on to say that Brown has directed the Air Resources Board to amend its program guidelines to allow quarterly reimbursement of up to 80 percent of eligible costs under certain circumstances.

“We all share the goal of providing shore-side electrical power to ships at berth in order to reduce harmful emissions at and near the ports,” the governor wrote. “This is a solvable problem.”

Shore side power systems are being developed to comply with new California regulations requiring that ships anchored at ports throughout the state turn off their engines to limit emissions. Vessels will be required plug into equipment at the marine terminals, allowing them to shut down their diesel engines and reduce harmful air emissions.

In 2007, the ARB approved regulations mandating a reduction in emissions from diesel auxiliary engines on container, passenger and refrigerated cargo ships anchored at California ports. Under the rules, emissions must be reduced by 80 percent by 2020.