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A proposed rule for the U.S. Coast Guard would misuse taxpayer resources to provide private security for foreign grain conglomerates and trample American workers’ speech rights on Columbia River
Note: Download the ILWU’s comments on the proposed rule here
PORTLAND, OR (July 15, 2013) – The United States Coast Guard has proposed a so-called “temporary safety zone” on the Columbia River that all but eliminates workers’ speech rights and puts foreign grain conglomerates, including Mitsui and Marubeni, in a protective bubble, buffering them from any consequences resulting from their continued lockout of American workers. The proposed rule provides taxpayer-funded Coast Guard security around all inbound and outbound grain shipment and grain-shipment assist vessels involved in commerce with Mitsui, Marubeni and Louis Dreyfus facilities on the Columbia River. Mitsui-owned United Grain in Vancouver, Wash., and Marubeni-owned Columbia Grain in Portland, Ore., have locked out their workers.
“The Coast Guard has not offered any justification as to why new zones of these sizes were chosen rather than more narrowly tailored, current zones that tread less upon free speech...