Longshore union held in contempt

TACOMA – A federal judge found a union in contempt of court Thursday, a week after police said hundreds of its members raided a grain terminal in southwestern Washington, smashed windows and menaced security guards.

U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton said he wants the operator of the Longview grain terminal, EGT, to provide him an accounting of the damage for purposes of gauging how much he should fine the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Locals 4 and 21.

Leighton had issued a temporary restraining order before last week’s actions, demanding that the union not block entrances to the grain terminal. But the union’s members, upset that EGT has hired a contractor staffed with workers from a different union, repeatedly blocked a train carrying a grain shipment there, then stormed the terminal and dumped some of the grain.

Eight people had been arrested by Thursday evening – seven for investigation of criminal trespassing and one for investigation of assault and other charges.

The judge mused Thursday about whether it would be helpful to set out a schedule of fines should the union violate his orders again, but decided against it.

“It’s like asking the parent of a juvenile delinquent to predict your client’s behavior,” he told attorneys.

The Longshore union has an agreement with the Port of Longview entitling it to work at the port, but EGT claims it is not a party to that agreement and need not follow it.

Leighton’s decision to hold the union in contempt followed lengthy testimony about what happened during the protests and the raid. Security guard Charlie Cadwell, employed by Columbia Security for patrols at the Longview grain terminal for the past two months, told the judge of the harrowing experience, saying every protester he saw that night was carrying a weapon: baseball bats, lead pipes, garden tools.

Cadwell said about 40 to 50 people were throwing rocks at him and that he was hit between his eyes and on his knee.

When asked how he knew the men who attacked him were Longshore workers, he said he worked at Weyerhaeuser for five years, where he also worked with Longshoremen.

A police officer and other security guards testified about other verbal threats, and one man said he heard what sounded like train air hoses being cut.