ILWU claims Tacoma port security service fired pro-union workers
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union has filed national labor law complaints against a security firm servicing a Maersk terminal at the Port of Tacoma.
Last month, the ILWU filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board, charging Swedish firm Securitas Security Services with repeatedly violating federal labor laws by threatening and firing employees in retaliation for the workers' vote last summer to organize with the ILWU.
The complaint charges that Securitas tried to coerce workers to join an employer-backed association instead of the dockworkers union.
Written requests to Securitas were not returned.
NLRB officials said a complaint being filed must still go through a determination process where the employer could be found innocent.
According to government records, Securitas has racked up 60 NLRB complaint files against it since 2005.