Lockout at Mitsui-United Grain in Vancouver
From the Columbian:
ILWU calls accusation unfounded
Pat McCormick, spokesman for the Pacific Northwest Grain Handlers Association — a consortium of grain handlers that includes United Grain — said the company fired the employee on Tuesday and notified the union this morning that it is locking out dockworkers.
Jennifer Sargent, an ILWU spokeswoman, issued a statement today, saying United Grain and its Japanese owner, Mitsui, have “fabricated a story as an excuse to do what they’ve wanted to do all along, which is to lock workers out instead of reach a fair agreement with them.”
She added: “It’s no coincidence that Mitsui-United Grain has chosen to throw out unfounded charges by an unnamed ‘investigator’ just days after the union membership ratified an agreement with Mistui-United Grain’s American competitors at Temco in Portland, Kalama and Tacoma.”