On the Waterfront: Northwest Ports Slowed Over Inter-Big Labor Squabble Over 2 Jobs

Times must be tough.  An escalating dispute between two unions ties up millions of dollars of freight across the Northwest boils down to a spat over just two waterfront jobs, The Oregonian is reporting.  Bill Wyatt said Longshoremen staging a slowdown at the region’s biggest international cargo hub are contesting the equivalent of two full-time positions devoted to plugging, unplugging and monitoring refrigerated containers. The Longshoremen, who are causing mile-long lines of trucks outside the port’s Terminal 6, sued the terminal operator this week to get the work being done by members of an electricians’ union.