Members of Congress ask U.S. Trade Representative to help resolve dispute during TPP negotiations with Japan

VANCOUVER, WA (October 1, 2013) – Members of Congress are voicing concern over Japan’s entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) while Japanese conglomerates have locked out ILWU grain workers in Washington and Oregon for months. In a letter sent this week, several House members urge U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman to help resolve the lockout by working with his Japanese counterpart to urge Japanese companies Mitsui and Marubeni to negotiate a fair contract with its workers. The U.S. government is one of 12 member nations to negotiate a free trade agreement that the Obama Administration hopes will be finalized by the end of the year.

In a letter dated September 30, 2013, the Congressional delegates wrote, “The continued intransigence by Marubeni and Mitsui is placing great stress on workers dependent on these facilities for their livelihoods. The lockout is negatively affecting wheat and grain farmers in the Pacific Northwest and other states that depend on grain export terminals.”

The letter is signed by six members of Congress, Representatives Jim McDermott, Adam Smith, Rick Larsen, Suzan DelBene, Denny Heck and Derek Kilmer. The letter echoes similar concerns raised by Foreign Affairs Committee members Reps. Brad Sherman and Alan Lowenthal at a Congressional hearing on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.

Mitsui owns United Grain in Vancouver, Wash., which locked out members of ILWU Local 4 on February 27, and Marubeni owns Columbia Grain in Portland, which locked out members of ILWU Local 8 on May 4. U.S.-based TEMCO, a joint venture of Cargill and CHS, reached an agreement with ILWU workers in February and have offered to aid in negotiating a fair contract.

“Mitsui and Marubeni forced workers to work under a concessionary contract that had been rejected by a 94% union membership vote, and locked out hundreds of American workers beginning in February and May at their two U.S. facilities,” the letter states. “Cargill/CHS continued to negotiate with the ILWU and reached a fair contract with the union that was ratified in February that protects good American jobs.”

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union has represented workers in all Northwest grain export terminals since 1934.

For more information:

• Download a PDF copy of the letter here

— ILWU Coast Longshore Division News Release