ILWU: what do the lessons of Portland tell us?

It is quite remarkable that the US International Longshoremen and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has been compelled to declare bankruptcy and enter Chapter 11 over a dispute at the Portland (Oregon) container terminal centring on just two employees, who plugged in reefer containers and who it argued should be members of the ILWU as opposed to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers which they were already members of.

The question springs to mind, how it has come to this, a union compelled to file for bankruptcy over the dogged pursuit of getting two employees, already union members, to switch their allegiance to the ILWU? I suspect Peter Drucker might have a word or two to say to union officials on the subject of risk management. The ILWU is said to have over 4000 members – objectively if I was one of them, a fully paid-up member, I might be more than a little disgruntled at this state-of-affairs.

Irony of ironies though it does lend some credence to the ILWU motto: “An injury to one is an injury to all.”

A quick recap: the dispute goes as far back as 2012 and is between the ILWU, for the reasons stated, and international terminal operator, Manila-headquartered International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI), the then operator of the Portland’s Terminal 6 container facility. The ILWU in pursuing its goal of bringing the two employees into its membership implemented a near year long slowdown of operations and a landside blockade of the terminal which, hardly surprisingly, saw liner operators seek other gateways. Net result, no viable business stream – also another testament to, ‘An injury to one is an injury to all!’

ICTSI sued for damages and was awarded a thumping US$93.6m with the Federal Judge making the judgement citing the “ILWU’s unlawful labour practices.” (Did no one read the Red Book of legal union practice?) On appeal damages were reduced to US$19m, a figure not acceptable to ICTSI. The dispute continued and hence it has arrived at the point today where the ILWU has sought the shelter of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, an arrangement under which businesses recognise their debts but continue operating. Indeed, the ILWU has stated publicly: “We intend to use the Chapter 11 process to implement a plan that will bring this matter to resolution and ensure that that our union continues to do its important work for our members and the community.”

“A plan?” Presumably the ILWU had one previously…the one that failed! It will be interesting to see what the new plan is, perhaps essentially it needs to recognise how its previous actions have brought it to this parlous state and that the reckless pursuit of principle is not always in the best interests of all of its membership