Negotiators are staying mum on how many jobs at the Port of Longview’s EGT grain terminal will be filled by union longshoremen, but a tentative settlement has already compelled the longshore union and EGT to push back a key labor hearing at the heart of the dispute.
The National Labor Relations Board postponed a hearing scheduled for Monday on whether the International Longshore and Warehouse Union engaged in illegal picketing during last summer’s protests, according to Frank Randolph, Port of Longview attorney.
The first day of the hearing, expected to last at least a month, has been rescheduled for Feb. 6. According to the labor board, the Pacific Maritime Association also is listed as a party because of the lost time incurred by shippers due to longshore walkouts in Longview, Seattle and Tacoma in September in protest of EGT’s hiring policies.
Attorneys for EGT, the ILWU and the Port of Longview are discussing ways to modify the company’s lease and the port’s working agreement with the ILWU to create the legal framework to get union workers in the terminal, Randolph said Tuesday, adding that the parties are also trying to settle a federal lawsuit filed a year ago over the staffing of the terminal.
It’s called a “reopener.” It’s a tool in labor negotiations for breaking stubborn deadlocks.
And it just might work in the American Crystal Sugar case, because Crystal’s circumstances seem tailor-made for what a reopener can provide. Here’s how.
This idea comes to the Herald from Richard Aregood, professor of journalism at UND and former president of the Philadelphia local of the Newspaper Guild, a newspaper union.
As Herald readers know, American Crystal Sugar workers have been locked out of their jobs since August. One big reason is the uncertainty facing the sugar program in Washington.
In a nutshell, Crystal’s grower/owners and executives want to streamline the business because the sugar program may be at risk. If the program goes away — if sugar-import limits are eased, and the federal government lets the price of sugar drop — Crystal must be ready to compete ferociously against low-cost and/or subsidized sugar from overseas.
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Ohio-based AFIMAC has achieved HRCI approval for several of the courses offered at its IMAC Online Training Academy. Human resources professionals will now receive HRCI accreditation towards their Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) designation upon successful completion of any of these unique, professionally-relevant courses, available at www.imac-training.com.
The courses pre-approved by the HR Certification Institute (HRCI) have been designed expressly to further the careers of HR professionals, and include pragmatic subject matter developed by some of the industry’s top security professionals. Most popular of the accredited courses include an overview of workplace violence, nonviolent confrontation, high-risk terminations and work stoppage management.
Launched in early 2011, the IMAC Online Training Academy is unique in the practical and applicable nature of the training it provides. The IMAC security education team brings together respected experts who will instruct primarily on the realistic application of field-tested concepts and tactics to ensure students get relevant knowledge and techniques to equip them to succeed in the industry today. In addition to its more than twenty courses geared to HR professionals, the school also provides workplace violence training for security professionals and corporate executives.
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From Occupy Wall Street to occupy Century Aluminum. These protesters aren’t fighting for jobs though, they’re retired. they’re fighting to get their benefits back.
“We’re trying to get our insurance back they took away from us. They just wrote us a letter and said we got none, and they promised us for life,” retiree, Charles King says.
Insurance that’s crucial to the health of these retired workers, especially King.
“I had a stroke and had cancer and a couple mini-strokes. I ain’t too good of health, but I’m still here kickin.”
These retirees have only being occupying this area for a few weeks, but they say their fight began years ago.
“We just go to Charleston legislatures and talked to the governor and Rockefeller and Manchin and they all said they wouldn’t sign legislation to give them a break on their electricity until we got our insurance back.”
With just a bonfire, a few tents, and no sign of Century Aluminum giving in, these determined retirees are sticking it out till the end.
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