Update: Port of Seattle says terminals ‘normal’ again

FIRST THURSDAY REPORT, 12:25 PM: If you’ve noticed anything unusual today at the port facilities in and near West Seattle: Reports are circulating that longshore workers in Seattle and elsewhere are off the job today in relation to a dispute that turned violent in Longview. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union is quoted as saying it’s “investigating” those reports; the Port of Seattle has issued a statement acknowledging “work is not occurring at our terminals today”:

The Port of Seattle is aware that work is not occurring at our terminals today, as longshore workers are not present. Port of Seattle terminals are leased to terminal operators who work directly with ILWU for staffing. We do not know when work will resume. We will send an update at 3:00 pm today.

Here’s the ILWU’s side of the story about what’s happening in Longview. The dispute has been simmering for a while, as chronicled on the union’s Facebook page.

THURSDAY 1:09 PM UPDATE: Labor Notes quotes ILWU as saying no action had been formally called, but “large numbers of individuals appear to have taken action on their own.”

EARLY FRIDAY MORNING: Our partners at the Seattle Times have updated the situation. No followup statement emerged from the Port of Seattle Thursday afternoon/evening; it remains to be seen if work will resume today.

8:25 AM FRIDAY MORNING: The Port has issued a short statement saying operations are back to “normal” today.

dawsonct September 8, 2011 (2:56 pm)

Solidarity!

JD September 8, 2011 (3:00 pm)

They should all be fired for failing to show up at work

Grognardo September 8, 2011 (3:51 pm)

Loks like an outbreak of Solidarity Flu… @2 lol… these guys can shut down the whole west coast… including BC… trying to retaliate would be a very expensive proposition..

Grognardo September 8, 2011 (3:51 pm)

looks

I Wonder September 8, 2011 (3:51 pm)

Does solidarity include abducting security agents, slicing brake hoses on rail cars, and dumping grain? Rah-rah!

Grognardo September 8, 2011 (4:11 pm)

Why yes it does…

AceMotel September 8, 2011 (4:29 pm)

Come back, Harry Bridges! We love ILWU.

AceMotel September 8, 2011 (4:29 pm)

I Wonder if you believe everything you read in the paper.

AJ September 8, 2011 (5:52 pm)

@JD

Don’t worry JD eventually your job will outsourced. Then maybe you’ll wake up.

-Union till I die

G September 8, 2011 (6:46 pm)

No surprise here.

The ILWU, nepotism and thug tactics at work.

Mike September 8, 2011 (8:58 pm)

Ports run by unions are monopolies and need to have more competition. Time to open ports to be run by non union companies with workers who actually show up to work.

Mike September 8, 2011 (9:44 pm)

“Don’t worry JD eventually your job will outsourced. Then maybe you’ll wake up.
-Union till I die”

Don’t worry ‘Union till I die’ robots controlled by computer programs will take your job away.

AJ1 September 8, 2011 (10:59 pm)

@Mike

“Don’t worry ‘Union till I die’ robots controlled by computer programs will take your job away.”

In the meantime, I’ll support the Union. I guess you support the robots?…Wait, are you management?

Maybe Target can run the Port? Why not Wallmart? Then we can all make minimum wage. Thats the point right? The most make the least, and the few make the most?

No, on second thought, I think I’ll support the Union.

-Proud to be Union

FauntleeHillsFag September 8, 2011 (11:53 pm)

I love the ILWU. One of the only unions in the USA who is really willing to throw in some wildcat strikes. Makes me wish my union was more militant, hopefully someday ;)

G September 9, 2011 (12:24 am)

So, if some of us disagree with the actions taken by the ILWU, we’re suddenly for minimum wage and long hours, a modern day Dickensian landscape of grimy smokestacks- sans Oliver Twist?

Wow, that’s a leap of logic. Argumentum absurdum, “never leave home without it.”

Yawn.

Steve September 9, 2011 (12:52 am)

ILWU, shorthand for spoiled brats.

AJ1 September 9, 2011 (3:04 am)

@G
So, if some of us disagree with the actions taken by the ILWU, we’re suddenly for minimum wage and long hours, a modern day Dickensian landscape of grimy smokestacks- sans Oliver Twist?

I think your fellow union buster Mike gave us a more Sci Fi take on the concept.

“Don’t worry ‘Union till I die’ robots controlled by computer programs will take your job away.”

I’m merely saying your jobs can get outsourced so you can make minimum wage. It’s not a leap. It’s fact.

You go ahead and yawn…that’s what they’re counting on.

@Steve
Spoiled brats?

“Although it is true that only about 20 percent of American workers are in unions, that 20 percent sets the standards across the board in salaries, benefits and working conditions. If you are making a decent salary in a non-union company, you owe that to the unions. One thing that corporations do not do is give out money out of the goodness of their hearts.”
~Molly Ivins

“Every advance in this half-century: Social Security, civil rights, Medicare, aid to education… one after another- came with the support and leadership of American Labor.”
~Jimmy Carter

“The American Labor Movement has consistently demonstrated its devotion to the public interest. It is, and has been, good for all America.”
~John F. Kennedy

“Our labor unions are not narrow, self-seeking groups. They have raised wages, shortened hours, and provided supplemental benefits. Through collective bargaining and grievance procedures, they have brought justice and democracy to the shop floor.”
~John F. Kennedy

“If any man tells you he loves America, yet hates labor, he is a liar. If any man tells you he trusts America, yet fears labor, he is a fool.”
~Abraham Lincoln

JD September 9, 2011 (9:01 am)

@AJ

I’m the one that does the outsourcing for a company. No reason for a business to go under if the employee’s try to hold it hostage.

george September 9, 2011 (9:07 am)

When you listen to ILWU, you can see their passion as they cuss and swear at news people trying to address their issues. A nice, brotherly group. Cult is more like it. The only thing they’re trying to protect is their “family” and their paycheck. Which is why its basically an inherited right to work on the docks, not a public application. Of course they’re going to protect it fiercely. No one but blood gets in. Sound familiar?

dawsonct September 9, 2011 (10:29 am)

JD, please refer to the final quote, by Abraham Lincoln, in AJ1’s post.
Wow George, those workers are trying to protect their families and their jobs!? How SELFISH!
—
Interesting that the so-called “liberal” mass media reports ONLY the indiscretion of the workers (they never kidnapped any security guards), but never really gets too deep into the economic violence and PHYSICAL violence from the management side, such as this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zrK9LL9UyM

Oh I know, they should be GRATEFUL for whatever crumbs some corporation sheds from their table. Be docile and compliant. THAT’s the American Way!
—
Not MY America!!

dawsonct September 9, 2011 (10:31 am)

But yeah, they’re taking caviar out of some executive’s consort’s mouth. BAD living-wage workers!

golfer September 9, 2011 (10:39 am)

I agree with Steve and george. Spoiled brats. I’m a proud member of a strong union and appreciate it very much, but you’ll never find us out there cutting brake lines and threatening people with baseball bats. And from what I’ve heard, this sounds like one of the most corrupt unions ever. I’ve heard of people getting paid for 40 hours of work in a 24-hour period thanks to fancy accounting, and it’s basically impossible to get fired since they can just waltz back to the union hall and get another assignment. I’m sure there are guys who work hard and deserve their pay, but I also suspect there are plenty of lazy bums who basically freeload off the union and freak out when the ports get fed up with their bullsh*t and try to do something about it.

george September 9, 2011 (11:04 am)

Pretty dumb to step in front of a moving car, don’t you think? Why is it the teachers can go on strike and maturely solve their issues, but ILWU workers need to wildcat, storm the port, vandalize, swear, get in people’s faces, etc. Very spoiled brats. Its not their jobs their protecting, its their easy meal ticket. Why not modernize the port when you can?

george September 9, 2011 (11:06 am)

The selfish part is when John Q Public goes to the hall to get work but gets the door slammed in their face, unless there is a blood connection. There’s a difference.

dawsonct September 9, 2011 (11:50 am)

Lot of assertions, no evidence. Sounds like opinions George.
Prove your accusations, or you simply come across as another bitter, short-sighted, historically ignorant connedservative.

golfer September 9, 2011 (12:07 pm)

I’m curious to hear what the ILWU supporters have to say about nepotism in the union. Explain to me why it is better to give a guy a job based on his family ties rather than his own aptitude? My dad’s a biologist, and I’m the first to tell you that I would make a terrible biologist. Why is being a longshoreman different?

george September 9, 2011 (12:39 pm)

I was a checker for two summers in Seattle. The only way I got out at the Temple was the fact my wife was a casual, her brother and her father were “A” and “B” men. Don’t need to flash your brilliant connedservative at me, I’ve seen it first hand. How did the brotherhood like it at the last lottery, whenever that was?

Here’s another viewpoint:

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/09/09/1815730/strange-sympathy-for-longshore.html#ixzz1XThAWF8a

Mike September 9, 2011 (10:13 pm)

“I’m merely saying your jobs can get outsourced so you can make minimum wage. It’s not a leap. It’s fact.”
.
So is programming a robot.
.
We have Terragator’s that drive themselves, track flow rates of pesticides mapped by GPS and log data of crop yields with GPS as well. The amount of return on investment for computer controlled devices is crazy insane billions of dollars vs. old farts trying to drive straight and flip a switch.
.
Lifting containers is old hat for robotics.