Members of the ILWU protest EGT at a national grain conference in Seattle. Photo by Cameron Williams, ILWU Local 19 president.
SEATTLE, WA (August 23, 2011) — A group of more than 200 union longshore workers from Washington and Oregon chanted and protested during EGT head Larry Clarke’s speech at the 2011 Midwest Specialty Grains Conference & Trade Show and 2011 Grain Export Shipping Conference in Seattle Tuesday.
“Despite the rosy picture EGT is trying to paint today, the truth is that EGT has created ongoing chaos and disruption in the way it’s handled the construction of its massive new grain terminal in Longview,” said Cameron Williams, president of ILWU Local 19 in Seattle. “EGT took millions of public dollars to build their dock, and then left the community feeling betrayed when they imported low-wage workers from outside the region to build the terminal. EGT has made repeated attempts to back out of their agreement to hire the local port workforce that has decades of experience in the industry.”
Williams said the strong showing of union dockworkers demonstrated the coastwide support behind ILWU Local 21’s attempts to reach an agreement with EGT to staff the Longview terminal.
“Longshore workers from San Diego to Bellingham are united in stopping EGT from undermining good jobs in Longview and the grain agreement in the Northwest that the union and the other terminals have used to make this region very successful,” Williams said. “EGT should follow the same standards as the other grain exporters that are making money in this industry, and not try to gain unfair advantage by rigging the system in EGT’s favor.”
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union represents workers in all West Coast grain export terminals and has been fighting to make EGT honor its lease agreement to hire ILWU Local 21 members at its new terminal on the Columbia River in Longview, WA. EGT is a joint venture of Bunge North America, STX Pan Ocean and Itochu.