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ITF-affiliated unions around the world are showing support for their colleagues in the ILWU (International Longshore and Warehouse Union) in what could be a major labour showdown in the Pacific Northwest of the USA.
Multinational grain companies, who are currently making record profits, have reportedly hired replacement non-union workers to take over work currently being done by ILWU members in case of a lockout in the Ports of Seattle, Tacoma, and Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. Solidarity was shown this week when ITF US West Coast coordinator Jeff Engels boarded the vessel Ramada Queen at United Grain in Vancouver, and found that the captain and crew were aware of the ILWU’s labour dispute, and that they expressed solidarity with the ILWU on behalf of their own union, the Japanese Seamen’s Union (JSU).
Jeff Engels explained: “The captain and seafarers had learned of the ILWU’s struggle weeks ago, while they were still docked in Asian ports. As union members themselves, who are among 4.5 million workers united as affiliates of the ITF, they knew the players involved as well as the high stakes for workers.”
JSU contracts include an ITF solidarity clause that its members will honour other unions’ picket lines and the JSU had informed the ship’s owner of this clause. “The crew reiterated that they stand one hundred per cent in solidarity with their brothers and sisters in the ILWU,” Jeff Engels said. The ILWU reports that global grain giants are attacking their long-standing collective bargaining agreement, with months of negotiations in 2012 proving fruitless. The members are now working under an imposed contract.
“Seafarers from around the world are grateful for the ILWU’s solidarity over the decades,” said Engels. “They’re eager to have the opportunity to support the ILWU in their campaign to secure a good contract with the global grain merchants. They understand that workers need to stick together, or we’ll all be exploited by corporations that put profit above the wellbeing of workers.”
ITF president and chair of the ITF dockers' section, Paddy Crumlin, said: “When you sign up to the ITF you sign up to watching out for your mates. That's what solidarity is, and that's what's built into everything we do. I am heartened and not surprised to see this crew spreading that message.
“We don't like employers who pretend to be interested in negotiation but reach for union busting strategies instead. That behaviour has been noticed, and here comes the warning: our friends in the ILWU can be sure of worldwide support against that type of behaviour.”
Acting ITF general secretary Steve Cotton added: “ITF unions are on standby to help their colleagues in the US. Whether it's on ships or in ports, workers are watching what happens next and planning accordingly.”