Tacoma oil spill workers strike
Oil spill response workers serving the Port of Tacoma took to the picket lines Monday, accusing employer Marine Spill Response Corp. of illegal discrimination and intimidation because the workers unionized.
The workers, which joined the International Longshore and Warehouse Union's Inlandboatsman Union of the Pacific in 2006, allege Herndon, Va.-based MSRC is refusing to allow the workers to attend spill-response training being held in nearby Everett this week.
'The company is dragging its feet,' ILWU spokesperson Jennifer Sargent told the News Tribune. 'And they've been intimidating these guys because they unionized.'
MSRC denies the union allegations, pointing out that the training is for entry-level employees and the Tacoma employees have all received the training in the past.
Workers and ILWU supporters began picketing MSRC's facility at the Port of Tacoma on Monday with plans to return today.
MSRC, one of the largest oil response firms in the nation, operates 10 oil spill vessels and three skimmers out of Tacoma. The 18-year-old firm is a not-for-profit corporation formed by the oil and shipping industry to meet the requirements of the federal Oil Pollution Act passed in the wake of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.