A U.S. District Court judge issued a preliminary ruling Tuesday ordering the ILWU to cease picketing of Tidewater’s spud barges until the underlying allegations can be heard by an National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Administrative Law Judge next month. There has been no final ruling on the merits of Tidewater’s unfair labor practice charge against the Union.Exploiting Taft-Hartley loopholes, the grain elevators created shell companies to try and conceal their own involvement at the spud barges. The Union believes that restricting water pickets violates free speech rights. Photo by OPB.
The Union believes that restricting water pickets violates free speech rights, though such infringements are not unexpected given NLRB Region 19’s interpretation of Taft-Hartley and the Board’s aggressive approach towards the ILWU since the EGT struggle. Unfortunately, NLRB Region 19 has become the biggest cheerleader and supporter of foreign companies engaged in the export of American resources and the assault on American workers.
The NLRB, and now the courts, are saying that the only recourse locked-out American workers have against corporate bullying is to stand in a designated area to protest and to not interfere with the company’s business model in any way. The few parts of the law intended to level the playing field and allow for good faith negotiations are useless when a company remains free to operate behind a façade. Exploiting Taft-Hartley loopholes, the grain elevators created shell companies to try and conceal their own involvement at the spud barges. The Union intends to establish that the grain elevators created a tug company this summer just to shuttle grain barges between their elevators and the spud barges that serve them.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union has represented West Coast dockworkers and provided our communities with family-wage jobs since 1934.
— ILWU Coast Longshore Division
