United Grain argues with feds about whether inspectors can safely pass pickets

United Grain argues with feds about whether inspectors can safely pass pickets
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2014/08/united_grain_argues...

A picketer confronts a person passing through United Grain's gate at the Port of Vancouver in February, on the one-year anniversary of the union lockout. (Beth Nakamura / The Oregonian)
PrintBy Mike Francis | mfrancis@oregonian.com

on August 07, 2014 at 3:51 PM, updated August 08, 2014 at 12:08 PM

United Grain insists it can provide safe passage for government inspectors to enter its terminal at the Port of Vancouver. But the government doesn't seem to be buying it.

At stake, United Grain says, is nothing less than the stability of the food supply chain, which a spokesman said is already being disrupted by the slowdown in shipments.

United Grain is one of the local grain handlers negotiating intermittently with members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union over a contract for workers at the terminal. The company has locked out members of the union, who have set up pickets outside United Grain's gate.

In the meantime, as United seeks to pass grain through its terminal, inspectors are refusing to cross the picket line, citing safety concerns. And if grain shipments aren't inspected, they cannot be officially certified, which effectively halts sales to buyers or countries that require certification.

Pat McCormick, a spokesman for United Grain and the other grain handling companies said United Grain had received waivers of inspection for about 18 percent of the grain shipments scheduled for August, but other shipments are imperiled.

Now letters are flying back and forth between United Grain and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which has declined to step into the void left when the Washington Department of Agriculture stopped sending inspectors to United's facility.

An Aug. 7 letter from U.S. Agriculture Department administrator Larry Mitchell to United Grain vice president John Todd lists reasons why federal grain inspectors will not enter the facility via helicopter, water taxi, bus or under escort from private security, concluding that inspections won't resume because of "the current safety situation at the Port of Vancouver."

Mitchell cites reports of multiple small clashes between union members and United Grain employees and state inspectors, ranging from a throat-slashing gesture with a knife to the throwing of gravel at an inspector's car. He calls the picketers' actions "unpredictable."

Mitchell said the federal agency is conducting a thorough review of safety conditions at the site and expects to finish it within days.

Also on Thursday, two key members of the House of Representatives wrote to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, urging him to immediately return grain inspectors to the United Grain terminal. Ag Committee Chairman Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and Rep. K. Michael Conaway, R-Tex., told Vilsack their staff members had spoken to USDA officials who told them "there are no security concerns that would prevent USDA grain inspectors from entering or exiting the facility."

ILWU spokesperson Jennifer Sargent acknowledged the slowdown has diminished grain exports at the United Grain terminal, but said other facilities in the Northwest have sufficient capacity to handle the volume United can't ship.

McCormick said negotiators for the grain handlers and the union extended last week's talks from two days to four, and will meet again Sunday for two days.

Update: Read the Mitchell letter: 0807-John Todd.pdf

-Mike Francis