LONGVIEW, Wash. (AP) — A 76-year-old Rainier man has been arrested after a protest at the new EGT terminal at the Port of Longview, Wash. over the use of union labor.
James Coffman was charged with 3rd-degree criminal mischief after the protest, in which police say port workers blocked the entrance to the facility and hit cars with protest signs.
The protest is part of an increasingly volatile dispute between EGT and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 21.
EGT executives say they can save $1 million by employing non-union labor and insist they have the right to do so when they open the new terminal later this summer. The union says it has a contract for all longshore work on Port of Longview property.
At stake are about 50 union jobs.
