By James A. Loyola

International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI), through its wholly-owned subsidiary, ICTSI Oregon, Inc., and the Port of Portland have mutually agreed to terminate a 25-year lease agreement to operate the container facility at the Port’s Terminal 6.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, ICTSI said “the agreement allows ICTSI Oregon to be relieved of its long-term lease obligations effective March 31, 2017, pending approval by the Port Commission.”

In exchange, the Port will receive US$11.45 million in compensation to rebuild business, as well as additional container handling equipment, spare parts and tools at the terminal.

The agreement to terminate the contract comes after years of labor unrest that had disrupted operations at the port despite legal victories won by ICTSI.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) had affirmed the decision of an administrative law judge that labor unions violated federal labor law by engaging in coercive activity directed against ICTSI Oregon, Inc. at Terminal 6 at the Port of Portland.

This was the second time that a ruling was issued against the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU International) and ILWU Local 8 (Local 8).

The NLRB concluded that, between September 2012 and June 2013, ILWU members worked in a deliberately slow manner and otherwise interfered with productivity at Terminal 6 and that the ILWU International and Local 8 were responsible for this illegal conduct.

“The importance of this ruling should not be underestimated. Once again, the NLRB, a neutral federal agency charged with enforcing the nation’s labor laws, has found that the ILWU’s slowdowns and other efforts to interfere with production at Terminal 6 were illegal,” said ICTSI Oregon president Elvis Ganda.

He added that “it is time for the ILWU to accept the validity of the NLRB’s decisions and to work in a constructive manner with both ICTSI Oregon and the Port of Portland to get Terminal 6 back to full productivity, which is critical to our region’s economy.”

The NLRB’s order affirms the decision of Administrative Law Judge Jeffrey D. Wedekind.

ICTSI explained that “intentional slowdowns are orchestrated campaigns by labor unions such as the International Warehouse and Longshore Union (ILWU) to essentially engage in a strike with little or no cost to their members.”