Local 12 Southport boat pickets: Local 12 members Leonard Nelson, John Huber, Bob Palmer & Steve Maine
For the past several months, Local 12 members and supporters have been picketing whenever non-union barges arrive at the Southport Forest Products dock in North Bend, Oregon – a waterfront employer who’s trying to operate without the ILWU.
Machine guns
“The weather is sometimes nasty, but that doesn’t stop us,” said Local 12 Secretary-Treasurer Gene Sundet, who was soaked to the bone on December 4th but remained in good spirits with co-workers who picketed in front of the company gates and out in the bay, thanks to a flotilla of small fishing boats. Local law enforcement treated the protest as a major event; mobilizing seven officers and four squad cars – the better part of local law enforcement – while a Coast Guard vessel patrolled nearby with a .50 caliber machine gun. Sherriff’s deputies said they wanted to “practice dealing with protestors” who are expected to visit Coos Bay in the future if a controversial liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility goes forward.
Going non-union
Two years ago, Local 12 had an agreement with Southport to use ILWU workers for unloading log barges, through Ports America. Many logs were unloaded with ILWU help during the past two years – but the company refused to reach terms with Local 12 for shipping wood chips from their facility. Southport was soon searching for non-union tow and barge operators to help them move their chips – and recently started moving both logs and chips without ILWU labor.
“We’ve organized five picket lines at Southport since September,” said Jill Jacobson, who also serves as Local 12’s Secretary-Treasurer. “We’d like to settle this as soon as possible, because we can’t let Southport or anyone else drive down standards on the waterfront.”
Special favors
Southport has been getting special help and sweetheart deals from the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay, and their Chief Commercial Officer, Martin Callery. The first deal was reached in 2004 when Southport outgrew their original mill site. Eager to sell-off publicly held land on the Coos Bay North Spit, the Port offered Southport waterfront acreage that included a barge slip at a bargain-basement price. The Port also arranged for Southport to benefit from a $1.3 million federal grant from the Oregon Department of Commerce to build a rail spur connecting an existing rail line into Southport’s mill.
Lying about jobs
To secure the federal grant, Port officials and Southport claimed that the new mill would create 300 jobs. Southport has been quick to boast about that their new labor-saving, state-of-the-art sawmill, described as a “…highly efficient, high speed, high tech manufacturing operation which is one of the most efficient lumber and wood chip manufacturing operations in North America.” Their fully-operational mill now employs less than 75 workers – hundreds short of the numbers used to get the grant.
Anytime, day or night: Picketing at Southport lumber has taken place at night and in the pouring rain to protest the company’s refusal to recognize ILWU jurisdiction on their docks.
Public grant money
In 2005, the Port secured another grant for Southport worth $506,000 from the “Oregon Connect” program. The Port and Southport were supposed to provide additional funding of $140,000, bringing the total project cost to $646,000. The grant said the funding would be used to refurbish the barge slip that had filled with silt. A local newspaper reported: “The project is expected to increase employment in Southport’s local operations, and in maritime services and the longshore labor sectors.” But after Southport received the public grant money, the Port granted the company a waiver from the competitive bidding process – allowing the firm to pocket money by repairing the barge slip themselves without hiring local contractors to do the work.
Enterprise Zones
The term “enterprise zone” was created during the Reagan years to justify corporate tax subsidies. Several years ago, the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay took steps to create a “Bay Area Enterprise Zone.”
In theory, the tax subsidies provided through enterprise zones are supposed to spur job creation, which in turn is supposed to benefit the community – a form of trickle-down economics.
But most enterprise zone schemes take more from taxpayers than they deliver back to the community. Southport received their Enterprise Zone subsidy courtesy of the Port in 2011, which slashed the company’s property tax bill by more than 90%; from $69,656 in 2011 to $5,178 in 2012 and $5,215 in 2013. The number of jobs delivered by Southport remains a fraction of what was promised, and now the company has gone non-union – lowering the value of their jobs.
Promoting public good
“Southport has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in corporate welfare, but remains arrogant and disrespectful of our community,” said Local 12 Secretary-Treasurer Gene Sundet. “They need to be held accountable, and we intend to educate the community about their abuse of the public interest.”
Bottom line
Local 12 leaders say they’re committed to fighting the attack on longshore jurisdiction in their small port by privately owned mills and docks.
“Maintaining good jobs with high standards that support our community is what we’re about,” said Jill Jacobson. It may start in a small port, but eventually these non-union operators threaten everyone on the waterfront if they get a foothold.”