Several representatives of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union have recently gone on “road trips” to rural communities in Washington and Montana to protest the grain handlers’ actions and try to win favor with farmers.
Along the way, they’ve picketed grain elevators owned by Columbia Grain, United Grain and Louis Dreyfus.
The longshoremen’s picketing resulted in a local union leader, Scott Mason, being cited for criminal trespass at a facility in Harlem, Mont., on Sept. 18.
Mason, the president of ILWU Local 23 of Tacoma, Wash., said longshoremen have the right to establish “primary pickets” at such sites. Mason said he has pleaded not guilty and would ask for a jury trial.
“We don’t plan on giving up this fight,” he said. “We have the right to put economic pressure to even the score until we can get both sides back to the table.”
