Strike in the NW?

Professional Mariner Forum
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Scot L. Beckenbaugh, Acting Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), issued the following statement today on a tentative agreement reached just prior to midnight (PST) last evening between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and Pacific Northwest Grain Companies.

“After engaging in difficult and contentious bargaining for over two years, including multiple marathon mediation sessions held under the auspices of the FMCS, the announcement of the tentative agreement, subject to the ratification of ILWU membership, represents an amazing achievement of a potentially positive outcome in a labor dispute that has gained national attention.

“The ILWU, with its recommendation, will submit the tentative agreement to its members for ratification.

“The FMCS commends both labor and management representatives for their successful negotiation and for their commitment and dedication to the process of collective bargaining. Clearly the parties maintained strongly held competing views on the many issues that divided them during this process. In the end they found a way, in the time-honored tradition of the collective bargaining process, to reach mutually agreeable solutions that will allow the employees and the employers to move forward in their relationship. Equally important to our nation, is the knowledge that this tentative agreement, subject to the approval of affected ILWU membership, represents the opportunity to ensure that grain exports important to the U.S. economy and the world will proceed without disruption for years to come.

“These were difficult and contentious negotiations to be certain. I am grateful for the professionalism and cooperation the parties exhibited in mediation process during which they were able to reach what they believe will be acceptable and mutually beneficial solutions to the issues which have separated them for so long. I especially commend the leadership demonstrated by the representatives of ILWU and the representatives of the Grain Handlers. Though fierce in their representation of their respective positions, they never lost sight of their responsibility to reach a mutually acceptable solution.

“On a personal note, I want to commend the extraordinary efforts of FMCS Director of Mediation Services, Beth Schindler and FMCS Commissioner Gary Hattal who provided mediation assistance to the parties during some of the most difficult times in the negotiations process.”

Out of respect for the ratification process and consistent with the Agency’s longstanding policy on confidentiality, FMCS will neither comment on nor disclose the terms of the agreement.

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A two-year impasse between Northwest grain handling companies and union workers will end if longshore union members accept the deal struck just before midnight Tuesday morning.

Pressure to reach a deal had mounted in the last two weeks, after Washington Gov. Jay Inslee pulled the state police officers who had provided security for state agriculture inspectors to pass picketers at the United Grain terminal in Vancouver.

Without police escorts, the inspectors refused to cross the line, and grain exports slowed dramatically. United Grain appealed to the governor and to federal agriculture inspectors to come to the terminal to certify outgoing shipments, even promising to provide helicopter rides inside the terminal. But inspectors continued to express concerns about their safety.

Without the government certifications required by many buyers, scheduled shipments of grain from the United terminal were delayed, creating congestion, according to the grain handlers’ spokesman.

The governor said at the time he hoped the move would lend momentum to negotiations between the three grain-handling companies – United Grain, Columbia Grain and Louis Dreyfus Commodities – and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. A fourth grain-handling joint venture, Temco, had reached a separate agreement with the union, agreeing to later adopt terms struck between the union and the other three companies.

Tuesday morning, Inslee greeted news of a tentative agreement as “outstanding.” And he said state grain inspectors “will resume inspections immediately.”

The federal mediator overseeing talks between the companies and the longshore union called the tentative agreement “an amazing achievement.”

Read the statement following the tentative agreement from the federal mediator:

This story will be updated.

-Mike Francis