Longshoremen working at Port of Tacoma’s WUT and several other terminals (but not SeaLand or TOTE) were sent home this morning between 11 and 11:30 am.
Yesterday, workers in Tacoma were told by their Union leaders that PMA had walked away from the bargaining table and that they should work very safely.
Working safely resulted in 2 mile long truck lines and about 8 moves per hour against the ships.
Longshoremen in Oakland and LA/LB reported normal production with no reports of slow downs due to working safely.
Longshoremen in Oakland and LA/LB were told the parties agreed not to meet on Friday, for reasons unrelated to the negotiations.
Who is lying to the Local 23 Tacoma longshoremen by telling them PMA walked away form the table related to a technology issue?
Is it the same people telling them to work safely, or is it someone from San Francisco? Leal?
According to the article written by Robert Brenner, Director of the UCLA Center for Social Theory and Comparative History, Big Bob’s Pacific Northwest Grain Agreements marks the beginning of the end for the once powerful ILWU.
Click of the hyperlink and read for yourself how academics look at Big Bob’s Grain deal.
At last weeks Union meeting at Local 23, Tacoma, it seems that Roger Boespflug’s inability to answer the question of why Local 23 was being asked to vote on Local 4, Local 8 & Local 19’s tentative Grain Agreement caused a change of plan for Dean McGrath and Local 23’s corrupt leadership.
When Roger stumbled with his answers it became obvious to Dean that they were not going to be able to pass a motion to vote on Local 4, Local 8 & Local 19’s Grain deal, so he jumped in and suggested that a special meeting be held last Monday for any members who had questions.
It turns out that the meeting on Monday was more than just about questions and answers, it was about deception and lies. Dean and Roger rounded up about 50 members and decided they could pass a motion to hold the vote on Seattle’s tentative Grain agreement, which they did.
50 members at a basically secret meeting passed a motion to hold the ratification vote today, August 22nd, and Monday August 25th.
Look out Tacoma, your ILA history is starting to show.
Since when does the supposedly democratic ILWU allow 50 members to hold secret meetings that decide the fate of the other 850 members?
Since Dean McGrath and Roger Boespflug decided that they need to have Local 23 ratify Local 4, Local 8 & Local 19’s Grain Agreement, so everybody gets the same TEMCO agreement they already signed in secret, and Big Bob’s secret Grain deal gets forced down everyone’s throat.
Secrets and lies, mixed with deception and bluff, the new ILWU negotiating strategy.
It is sad to see that the once mighty ILWU has to stoop to lies, deception and bluff, in order to get their membership to ratify the latest Grain Handlers Agreement.
Roger Boespflug, Local 23 Lead Grain Negotiator & Labor Relations Representative, and Local 23 President, Dean McGrath, have chosen the low road and decided to lie, deceive and bluff their membership into ratifying a contract that they are not even signatory to.
It seems that the ILWU Officers in general have adopted the age old tactics of the employer, rather than embracing the ways of their founder and genius negotiator, Harry Bridges.
Harry Bridges stood for honesty, truthfulness, and transparency. He did everything in the open and believed that if the rank-and-file got all the information that they would nearly always do the right thing. It was not the easy way, but it was the right way, and the proof is in the success he had.
The current ILWU Officers, to a man, have decided the take the easy way out, and to lie, deceive and keep everything a secret. They refuse to provide members with minutes from their Executive Board meetings, their Membership meetings, and their Labor Relations Committee meetings.
Apparently the ILWU can do anything they want as it relates to the ratification vote. If they want to allow Local 23 to vote on Local 19’s contract in order to get the votes to ratify, it is ok. It is their club and they can do as they please.
Pity that they are such pathetic negotiators that they need to use electioneering and deception, rather that honesty and persuasion, to get their agreement approved by the rank-and-fie.
When I was first learning the art of negotiation I came across a book that changed my life. A little book titled; Winning with Deception and Bluff by Sydney C. Schweitzer, opened my eyes to the cons, scams and lies that could and would be used against me during negotiations and taught me how to deal with them and the people that would use them.
Seems to me that the ILWU has adopted that book as their play book, rather than following the teachings of Harry Bridges.
Local 23, Lead Grain Negotiator, Roger Boespflug, responded to my post. It is so enlightening that I felt everyone should read it verbatim.
“Jim,
Who the fuck are you? Where do you get off recommending a fucking thing to the membership of the ILWU? While I understand a need for all workers to seek justice when they feel/believe they are not being treated fairly by their employer or their Union thus a need for folks like you exist. What I do not understand is where you feel you have any say in an organization you do not belong to. Why don’t you just keep to the business you can muddle through and continue to offer your services to the disenfranchised members of any Union. Why don’t you continue to prey on the people who don’t feel they are being represented properly. That I can condone. Your voicing an opinion on matters that first off you know nothing about and secondly you have no stake in is utter bullshit. It’s typical and predictable from ilk such as yourself. You operate on hear say and second hand information with half a clue and barely half a wit.
Now you still live on Mercer Island and I still live in Tacoma that is close enough for us to get together and have a conversation. I offer to meet with you to help clear up any misunderstandings you may have. We can meet for coffee or hey the first beer is on me makes no difference.
I am replying to all on this mailing list so that everyone can see that you have been offered an opportunity to get answers straight from the person you quote in your bullshit second hand info. I will gladly bring the Tentative agreement and have a discussion about what is said and what it means. Hell I will even bring some crayons and a coloring book in an effort to simplify it enough for you to understand.
Looking forward to your response and a chance to meet and help you get a better understanding.
Roger Boespflug”
No need to bring your Tentative agreement I have one, and Local 23 is not named as a party to the agreement.
At the union meeting last Thursday when the members asked why Local 23 was voting to ratify a contract that they are not party to, Roger and Dean McGrath told the membership that they were voting because they have a grain silo in the Port, and all the Ports with grain silos are voting.
Local 23 is not a signatory to the Tentative Agreement because they already have one signed with TEMCO, the company that operates the Tacoma grain dock.
It is not clear to me why Local 23 is being asked to ratify this agreement. It seems to have something to do with the electioneering being conducted by Big Bob and Leal to help them get their Tentative Agreement ratified.
The entire West Coast of the United States is a single bargaining unit, and nearly all have signed supplemental agreements, which are identified on the PMA website. All except Local 13, which does not have a signed supplement.
No Locals sign the supplements of other Locals, and no Locals sign supplements where they are not a named party, so why exactly is Local 23 voting on a grain agreement where they are not a named party?
At the Union meeting last Thursday, when the members started to ask questions that Roger could not answer, Dean McGrath, Local 23 President, interrupted the questioning and told the members who had questions that they could come by the Union offices on Monday and they would be glad to answer the questions one on one.
Dean stopped the process because Roger could not answer the questions and he did not want the membership to see that Roger did not know what he was talking about. The offer to meet on Monday is so they can isolate the member, then berate him, verbally attack him, and tell him if he does not like what the Local is doing, he is anti-union and should get a job somewhere else.
The way Roger responded to me via email is exactly what he will do to any member who dares to question him.
The Tentative Grain Handlers Agreement is available by clicking on the hyperlink at the bottom of the page.
This nonsense is the direct result of secret negotiations. There are no secrets on the waterfront.
This agreement is a steady man’s dream, and marks a new era for ILWU Local 23 who’s motto should be changed to; It is better than nothing.
That is what Local 23 is telling their members who ask why they should vote for ratification. “It is better that nothing.”
No it is not. Nothing is better than giving up the Dispatch Hall and everything else the Tentative Grain Agreement gives up.
Next week the rank-and-file in several PNW ILWU Locals will be asked to ratify the first agreement since 1934 that eliminates the language in their labor agreement that states the men “shall be free to select their jobs”.
The complete control of the hiring process is now in the hands of the Employers who will “call the hall” and order who ever they want off “the list”.
The right of longshoremen to “select” their jobs from the orders placed at the dispatch hall, that they have 50% control of, will be given to the Grain Employers who will now be free to select who they want, just like they did under the shape up system that led to the Strike of 1934.
Last night, at the Union meeting in Tacoma, Roger Boespflug, lead Grain negotiator, did little to explain the tentative agreement. He could not answer why Local 23 was not listed as a signatory on the document he was distributing.
How does the ILWU plan to explain to PMA that they now allow the Grain Employers to hire who ever they want off “the list”, but they want PMA to continue letting the men select their jobs?
Seems to me that the only way the rank-and-file can hope to hold on to their dispatch hall, and their right to select their jobs, is to vote no on the tentative agreement and send a message to Big Bob that they do not agree to give up the Dispatch Hall.
The only reason the Dispatch Hall exists is so longshoremen can go there to “select their jobs”.
The ILWU has yet to provide their members with a copy of the proposed PNW Grain agreement, that was announced on August 12th.
Big Bob and Leal Sundet held secret negotiations and willfully denied their members any information related to the Grain talks, but that did not stop Locals like Local 23 in Tacoma, Washington, from requiring all their members to walk on the picket lines set up by Local 4 in Vancouver, Washington.
Local 23 membership, at a recent union meeting, voted to require members to do picket line duty or be fined $100. Most members I know do not want anything to do with the violent nonsense related to the Grain, and do not know anything about what is happening. They will either pay the $100 fine or claim their medical condition does not allow them to participate.
The ILWU is learning that they can no longer bully everyone, including their members, their employers, and their Governor, into doing what ever they want.
All the PMA Employers are watching the Grain negotiations very closely, and are now trying to figure out how to get similar concessions from the ILWU in the PCLCD negotiations.
Come on Big Bob, tell us what you are up too, if you know.
If the tentative agreement announced yesterday in the Pacific Northwest Grain negotiations contains the same language as the EGT agreement, which gives away the ILWU Dispatch Hall, it should be REJECTED.
Longshoremen should tell Big Bob that they are not willing to give away the dispatch halls that they won in the 1934 West Coast strike, for a few grain jobs.
Big Bob gave away the dispatch hall to EGT for about 10 grain jobs, for his home Local. He gave away the right of the men to select their jobs. A right that was paid for with the lives of those who died on Bloody Thursday, July 5, 1934.
Do not allow Big Bob to give away the dispatch hall for the rest of the Locals that have Grain agreements.
Say no to any tentative agreement that gives away the Dispatch Hall. It is not worth it, no matter what Big Bob says.
This article makes it sound like the ILWU’s debacle with the Pacific Northwest Grain negotiations is the beginning of the end for the powerful West Coast longshoremen’s union. https://t.co/6eBCUhhTIK
What were Big Bob and Leal Sundet thinking when they gave up the Dispatch Hall?
The ILWU has controlled the Dispatch Halls on the entire West Coast of the United States since the Arbitrator’s decision gave it to them in 1934. Sure it says in the PCLCD that the PMA and the ILWU have equal control, but in practice the ILWU has the day to day control of their Dispatch Halls.
In an effort to gain a hand full of jobs for his home Local, Big Bob gave Export Grain Terminal (EGT) “the sole authority to hire and fire” and even to bring in replacement workers in case of a strike.
No wonder the operators of the Pacific Northwest region’s other grain export terminals have not agreed to a new Agreement for the last 2 years; they want the same deal as EGT.
It is looking more and more like Big Bob could not negotiate his way out of a wet paper bag.
No wonder PMA is standing pat, if they play their cards right, they might be able to get what they lost in 1934; their Dispatch Halls.
Big Bob, that light you see at the end of the tunnel is actually a train. Look out.
