How a union dispute over two jobs cost the Port of Portland 90% of its business

In what started as a fight over the jurisdiction of the equivalent of two union jobs between the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU), has cost the Port of Portland nearly all of its business and cost millions of dollars to shippers and other Oregon businesses.
Now, the National Labor Relations Board has, once again, ruled that the ILWU engaged in unfair labor practices by engaging in “coercive actions” in an effort to force or require ICTSI (the Port’s operator) and carriers who call at terminal 6 to cease doing business with the Port of Portland.

The dispute began in 2012 when ILWU Local 8 claimed jurisdiction over the equivalent of two jobs that for decades had been under the jurisdiction of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. ICTSI charged that the ILWU local engaged in work slowdowns and other job actions.

The NLRB recently issued two rulings regarding administrative law judges’ decisions. In the first one issued 10 weeks ago, the NLRB upheld the administrative law judge’s ruling that Local 8 engaged in illegal coercive activity from June to August 2012.

In Thursday’s ruling, the NLRB upheld an administrative law judge’s ruling that Local 8 engaged in illegal coercive activity from September 2012 to June 2013. ICTSI is claiming millions of dollars in damages from the events. The ILWU appealed the ruling involving the period June-August 2012 to the U.S. District Court in Washington. The ILWU could not be reached to determine if it will appeal Thursday’s NLRB ruling to the federal court.

“It is time for the ILWU to accept the validity of the NLRB’s decisions,” stated Elvis Ganda, President and CEO of ICTSI Oregon, “and to work in a constructive manner with both ICTSI Oregon and the Port of Portland to get Terminal 6 back to full productivity, which is critical to our region’s economy.”