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Longshore union members protest outside Columbia Grain's facility at the Port of Vancouver in February.
(Beth Nakamura / The Oregonian)
Note: This story has been updated and clarified.
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Negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association, whose members operate West Coast ports, are on a three-day break so the union can negotiate with a group of Northwest grain handlers.
The union is bargaining with "grain employers Louis Dreyfus Commodities, Marubeni-Columbia Grain and Mitsui-United Grain," said longshore spokesperson Jennifer Sargent in an email. Relations between the union and the companies, all with headquarters overseas, have been chilled since longshore workers were locked out by Mitsui-United Grain and Marubeni-Columbia Grain more than a year ago.
The union seeks to replace an agreement that expired in September 2012.
The union reached an agreement with another Northwest grain handler, Temco, a joint venture between Cargill and CHS, in February 2013.
In a letter posted on the union's Longshore Shipping News site, ILWU international president Robert McElrath said "the situation in the Northwest is unprecedented in the history of the ILWU."
Representatives of the grain handlers were not immediately available for comment.
-- Mike Francis