Published: Tuesday, June 12, 2012, 6:54 PM Updated: Tuesday, June 12, 2012, 10:10 PM
Call it reefer madness. Two unions disputing, essentially, who gets to plug in the fridge have backed up trucks for more than a mile at the Port of Portland at times during the last two weeks.
The argument over plugging in "reefers," or refrigerated shipping containers, pits longshoremen against electrical workers, backing up millions of dollars worth of cargo around the Northwest.
At least one foreign container ship skipped Portland as a result, misdirecting imports and stranding exports. Some perishable products sent to the Port of Portland's Terminal 6for shipping might stink by the time they reach foreign ports.
No relief is in sight until the National Labor Relations Board rules on the case, which could come as soon as this week.
"The bottom line on imported goods is that when you and I go to the store to pay for something, we pay more because the cost became greater," said Bob Coleman, president of the Columbia River Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association.
Coleman suspects that the dispute at least partly results from the Port of Portland's appointment last year of an outside company to operate its container terminal on North Marine Drive. ICTSI Oregon Inc., a subsidiary of a company in the Philippines, has a 25-year lease to operate the terminal, which the Port used to run.
"They're having a difficult time adjusting to the U.S. labor unions and trying to work with them," said Coleman, Portland-based director of business development at Allports Inc., a freight forwarder.
But Coleman added that disputes over labor jurisdiction at T-6, as the terminal is called, have festered for years.
Elvis Ganda, ICTSI Oregon's chief executive, declined to comment Tuesday. Bob Carroll, business representative at Local 48 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, also declined to comment.
But Local 8 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, whose representatives won't talk, has plenty to say in a written statement. The longshore union contends that its agreement with the Pacific Maritime Association, which negotiates labor agreements, gives the Portland reefer work to longshoremen.
A local arbitrator has issued a number of rulings on the case. Longshoremen say the arbitrator took their side. Others say the arbitrator found the longshoremen guilty of illegal work stoppages.
Port of Portland managers have filed an unfair-labor-practice charge with the federal labor-relations board, faulting longshoremen for costly delays. Port officials said electrical workers have historically plugged in, unplugged and monitored refrigerated containers at Terminal 6.
The ICTSI lease agreement continues to give the work to electrical workers, according to the Port. But longshoremen are driving slowly on the job, dispatching unqualified workers to T-6 and using other delay tactics, managers said.
The longshore union's statement countered by accusing the Port of "interjecting itself into this private dispute, including mischaracterizing the facts." ICTSI is ignoring its obligations to the longshoremen and the maritime association, the statement said.
As the statements fly, truck drivers fume on North Marine Drive. Waits of as much as six hours at the terminal gate cause freight forwarders to reroute cargo to the Port of Tacoma and other West Coast ports.
These ports are the apparent winners so far in the dispute.
