Members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union [Local 12] are continuing the fight against Southport Lumber Co.
Members of the union gathered on Thursday morning, set up pickets outside the gates of Southport and had members picketing in boats on the bay.
Jill Jacobson, the secretary/treasurer for the union in North Bend, said this is about the fourth time members have picketed the lumber company, and they are not about to stop.
“We just hope to settle this as soon as possible so everybody can go back to work,” Jacobson said.
In 2004, the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay sold its barge slip on the North Spit to Southport. Before the slip was sold, the union was contracted for the barge work.
Southport and the port then received a $500,000 grant to fix up the slip so it would be able to handle several types of cargo.
Jacobson said the union and Southport had an agreement in 2012 that union members would be able to obtain work, but the company ended up using outside workers.
“They said they would employ 360 people,” Jacobson said. “We think they employed less than 60.”
The picket didn’t go as smoothly as the union had hoped. Jacobson said Southport called the Coos County Sheriff’s Office, and the Coast Guard was called for picketers out in boats. Jacobson said the reaction “was a little dramatic.”
