For decades, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union has solidified its power with aggressive demonstrations of solidarity across its Pacific ports. That includes a series of actions beginning in 2012, when dockworkers in Portland, Ore., introduced a slowdown, at least in part to protest two positions they believed should be going to the union’s members. The company operating the port went to court, contending that the job actions that continued for years were illegal and financially destructive. Seven years later, a federal jury has agreed, awarding the company a stunning $93.6 million judgment. At the ILWU, which has $8 million in assets at its national umbrella organization, the ruling this month threatens bankruptcy for a storied organization that grew from militant roots in the 1930s to lead unions on matters such as racial integration and ambitious regional organizing goals, the New York Times reported. Because of the size of the verdict, the federal judge in the case has yet to finalize the award, giving both sides time to submit arguments on whether the jury’s decision should stand. The case revolves around provisions under federal law related to secondary boycotts, which are prohibited in order to protect companies that do not have a stake in a labor dispute from getting dragged into the middle of it. The jobs that the ILWU wanted were being managed directly by the Port of Portland, and the company operating the port contended that the slowdowns over those positions improperly punished them for a dispute that should have been between the port and the ILWU.
