Excerpts from the Capital Press:
Tidewater Barge Lines, based in Vancouver, Wash., has filed a lawsuit claiming the International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s picket lines violate federal labor law.
The picket lines are aimed at inducing the barge company’s employees — represented by the Inland Boatmen’s Union of the Pacific — to refuse transporting products for two grain handlers, the complaint said.
The National Labor Relations Board has also asked a federal judge for an injunction that would stop ILWU’s waterborne pickets that harm the barge company.
The ILWU has filed court papers claiming that its activities are constitutionally protected free speech and so the injunction request must be denied.
Oral arguments about the proposed injunction were set for Oct. 10 before a federal court in Portland.