The union negotiating team is unanimously recommending that members of longshore union locals — which include ILWU Local No. 4 in Vancouver, home to 203 longshore workers — vote “no,’ according to a statement issued by Leal Sundet, ILWU Coast Committeeman.
“The union is disappointed that the grain merchants apparently have rejected a very fair offer that equalizes the playing field on all points that matter,” Sundet said. “Clearly the foreign-based grain merchants intend to risk the U.S. export market to try to break the union.”
Left out of that Grain Handlers Association statement, however, was the fourth terminal operator — TEMCO — a joint venture of Cargill and CHS Inc. that runs grain-export facilities in Portland and Tacoma.
