ILWU Sues to Stop Seattle Arena Plan

Following through on a threat it made more than a week prior, an International Longshore and Warehouse Union local in the Pacific Northwest has filed a lawsuit to try blocking a plan to construct a new sports arena near the Port of Seattle.

ILWU Local 19, represented by the Seattle-based Gendler & Mann law firm, which specializes in land use and property litigation, says the proposed arena that was approved Oct. 15 by the Seattle and King County councils would harm port operations.

“A new arena can be built anywhere,” the complaint reads in part, “but the same cannot be said about a world-class deep-water port terminal.”

In its legal complaint, which was filed against the city of Seattle, King County and developer WSA Properties, Oct. 24, Local 19 maintains the city and county violated the state Environmental Policy Act by not seeking out alternative sites that would be less disruptive for the port.

The union wants the city and county’s approval of the arena deal declared invalid under the Washington state Environmental Policy Act.

The union contends that the chose site was chosen because the development company’s head, Chris Hansen, owns real estate in and around the selected location.

“Hansen has publicly stated on numerous occasions that ArenaCo is not interested in constructing the arena on any other site in Seattle or elsewhere in King County,” the complaint states. The union also contends that a sports stadium would cause traffic and congestion problems along port corridors.

The area plan, however, includes a $40 million road improvement fund. The fund, which would be covered by tax revenues, would go toward the study and prioritization of area transportation improvements around the SoDo – south of downtown – area where the combo basketball-hockey arena would sit.

Grain Association, Union Resuming Contract Negotiations

Despite rumors of an impending lockout, contract negotiations were scheduled to resume this week between the Pacific Northwest Grain Handlers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union, according to a federal mediator.

The parties were slated to resume negotiations Oct. 29 upon the request of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, an independent US government agency whose mission is to preserve and promote labor-management peace and cooperation.

“Due to the sensitivity of this high profile dispute and consistent with the Agency’s longstanding practice, we will not disclose either the location of the meeting or the content of the substantive negotiations that will take place,” the FMCS said in a statement.

The negotiating parties have also agreed to an FMCS request that they refrain from public comments regarding the status of negotiations, according to the federal agency.

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 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.

The union says it won’t budge on some concessions the owners want, such as 12-hour work shifts, an ability to bypass the union hiring hall, and being given greater control over the ability to fire dockworkers.

Despite the increasingly contentious negotiations, there have been no reported labor disruptions at any of the affected terminals so far. The union says plans are underway to organize boat pickets on the Columbia and Willamette rivers if a lockout occurs.

The FMCS, which was created in 1947, is headquartered in Washington, DC and has 10 district offices and 67 field offices across the US The agency provides mediation and conflict resolution services to industry, government agencies and communities.

Port of Oakland Acting Director Issues Scandal Response

Port of Oakland Acting Executive Director Deborah Ale Flint has issued a written statement responding to recent allegations of misuse of port funds.

In an Oct. 25 letter, Ale Flint addressed accusations that maritime director James Kwon, a top aide to Executive Director Omar Benjamin, spent thousands of dollars in public money at a Texas strip club.

“The last week has been particularly challenging for our organization, our leadership, and our employees,” she wrote. “I am as disappointed as you are at the allegations of improper expenditures.”

Kwon is alleged to have spent $4,500 entertaining shipping executives at strip club in Houston, Texas called Treasures in 2008 during a business conference. Top port officials are also alleged to have spent more than $500 in public money last year at a private karaoke bar that local media reports say is a haven for prostitution.

Ale Flint said the issues are being thoroughly investigated and that the port intends to get to the bottom of the situation in order to ensure all that the organization is “operating in a safe, secure, legal, and ethical way.”

Thus far, no evidence of any kind of criminal activity has been found, she said.

Since the scandal broke earlier this month, the Oakland Board of Port Commissioners has placed Benjamin on paid administrative leave, and Kwon was put on leave by Ale Flint. Also, international law firm Arnold & Porter has been retained to serve as independent outside counsel in the on-going investigation.

“We will be as transparent as the law allows, releasing whatever information we uncover that we legally can,” Ale Flint said in the statement. “It is unfortunate that such circumstances led to this introspection, but we will come out of this a better and stronger organization for it.”

Crowley Christens Ocean-Class Tugs

As part of its new vessel build program, Crowley Maritime christened the first two of four tugboats in the ocean class series, Ocean Wave and Ocean Wind, Oct. 25 in New Orleans. Both tugs are scheduled to begin work this year in the US Gulf for a customer in the global oil and gas industry.

More than 250 guests, including friends and employees from Crowley and representatives from Amelia, Louisiana-based Bollinger Shipyard attended the event. The launch of the new class of tugboats further solidifies the company’s standing in ocean towing, salvage and offshore marine support for the upstream energy industry. The ocean class tugs – which are suited to work with Crowley’s new 455 series high-deck strength barges, measuring 400 feet long by 105 feet wide – will be outfitted for long-range, high-capacity ocean towing, rig moves, platform and floating production, storage and offloading unit tows, emergency response and firefighting.

“We are raising the bar in terms of reliability, power and environmental friendliness with the addition of these tugboats,” vessel sponsor Christine Crowley, wife of company chair, president and CEO Tom Crowley, said. “These new boats will be workhorses for our valued upstream energy customers and for companies and government entities needing long-range, high-capacity, ocean towing along with salvage and emergency response support.”

The newly christened tugs are 146 feet long, 44 feet wide and have a draft of 21 feet. They’re designed to have a minimum bollard pull of 150 metric tons, and range for the vessels will be about 12,600 nautical miles at 15 knots free running. They’ll also be outfitted with twin-screw, controllable-pitch propellers in nozzles and high lift rudders for a combination of performance and fuel economy.

Two additional ocean class tugs are being constructed at Bollinger Marine Fabricators in Amelia, Louisiana according to Crowley Maritime, and are scheduled for delivery in 2013.

Outside Review Finds No Port of Seattle Conflict of Interest

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Legal counsel and an ethics expert hired by two Port of Seattle commissioners to investigate whether the port’s CEO committed a conflict of interest when he accepted a position on the board of a for-profit logistics company have found no wrongdoing.

In a report dated Oct. 22, investigator Gerry Alexander, a retired state Supreme Court justice, wrote that Yoshitani serving on Expeditors Internationals’ board doesn’t violate Washington state law or the port’s ethics rules because the logistics company doesn’t compete with the port or conduct business directly with the port.

“It is my conclusion that Mr. Yoshitani’s service on the Board of Expeditors does not create a real, perceived or appearance of a conflict of interest. Neither does his service on that corporation’s Board run afoul of the statutory Code of Ethics for Municipal Officers or any Employee Codes of the Port of Seattle,” he wrote.

The port had announced on Sept. 25 that commissioners Tom Albro and Rob Holland, acting as a temporary subcommittee, would be hiring outside legal counsel and an ethics expert to review the port’s position that CEO Tay Yoshitani serving on the board of directors of Expeditors International did not represent a conflict of interest.

Although the month-long investigation found no wrongdoing, Alexander did present the port board with one recommendation in his report.

“Going forward, the Commission might consider providing in future employment contracts with its CEO that before the CEO may accept a position on the Board of Directors of a private entity, the Port Commission must give its approval to this outside employment,” Alexander wrote. “There may be instances in the future where the CEO’s service on a corporate board is not, technically speaking, a conflict of interest but does, at the same time, generate a response from members of the public that is damaging to the port’s reputation and reduces public confidence in it. Requiring an evaluation of the potential impact of such employee-employer relationships before the fact is, in my judgment, far superior to making those determinations after the fact.”

The suggestion was a partial reference to the situation that led to the review. In August 13 King County, Washington legislators urged the port to look more closely into various issues raised by Yoshitani’s acceptance of the second job. In an Aug. 24 letter, the lawmakers said Yoshitani serving on the Expeditors board could result in the company’s clientele gaining a competitive advantage over non-Expeditors port customers.

Yoshitani, who has been the port’s executive director since March 2007, was announced as the newest member of Expeditors’ board Aug. 7. In the role, he stands to earn more than $230,000 in annual compensation – consisting of $30,000 in cash and up to $200,000 in restricted stock options – on top of the nearly $367,000 a year he earns at the port.

Crane Crushes Port of Oakland Worker

A mechanic performing maintenance on an Evergreen Marine Corp. crane at a Port of Oakland terminal died Oct. 24 after being caught in and crushed by a piece of equipment.

The 51-year-old victim, whose name was not immediately released, suffered major head and chest injuries about 9:30 am at the Ben E. Nutter terminal, according to Peter Melton, a spokesman for the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, the state governmental body commonly known as Cal/OSHA.

The unidentified man had been working at Berth 37, which is operated by Evergreen Marine Corp. of Taiwan. He was transported to Summit Medical Center, where he later died.

A longshoreman who didn’t want to be identified told a local NBC news affiliate that the worker was up on the crane about 250 feet when the trolley moved and he was crushed between the cable and the body of the crane.

The unidentified worker was a crane mechanic and a member of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, according to the port.

The Nutter terminal was shut down for the day and workers sent home while local agencies and Cal/OSHA conducted an investigation.

According to Cal/OSHA records, this was the first fatal accident at the Port of Oakland in at least five years.

Crowley Maritime Makes Management Shifts

Crowley Maritime has announced that Steve Demeroutis is assuming the role of vice president of marine operations for the company’s petroleum and chemical transportation group, and that Rudy Leming will assume Demeroutis’ former position of vice president of labor relations.

Demeroutis will now report to Rob Grune, Crowley’s senior vice president and petroleum services general manager. Leming now reports to Vice Chairman and Executive Vice President Bill Pennella.

In his new position, Demeroutis will be responsible for the safe and reliable operation of Crowley's marine petroleum assets including Jones Act product tankers, ranging from 240,000 to 300,000 barrels, and the company’s 17 articulated tug-barges, which range from 155,000 to 327,000 barrels and are capable of carrying refined petroleum products and easy chemicals.

And in his new job, Leming is responsible for the development and implementation of Crowley’s overall labor strategy. He will oversee contract negotiations, union relationships and the day-to-day administration of collective bargaining agreements throughout the entire Crowley organization, in addition to having functional responsibility for labor relations for all Crowley subsidiaries.

East and West Coast labor functions will also now report to Leming.