A union representing 22,000 workers on the US West Coast has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it faces a $19m lawsuit by a terminal operator.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) filed the petition on Saturday in US bankruptcy court in San Francisco, where the union is headquartered.
The ILWU said in the petition that it only has $11.6m in assets, which is not nearly enough to cover the amount awarded in March 2020 in a lawsuit by International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI). The terminal operator originally won a jury award of $94m against the union, but that was later reduced to $19m.
“The ILWU is confident that this process will provide the most favourable course of action to safeguard the union’s future,” union president Willie Adams said in a statement.
”While we have attempted numerous times to resolve the decade-long litigation with ICTSI Oregon Inc, at this point, the union can no longer afford to defend against ICTSI’s scorched-earth litigation tactic.”
The union has been facing a looming trial on claims that it illegally slowed down operations over several years at the Port of Portland, then operated by an ICTSI affiliate, Reuters has reported.
The union organised the slowdowns to coerce the port to give the job of plugging and unplugging reefers to ILWU workers, according to the National Labor Relations Board. The work interference ultimately forced ICTSI to leave its operatorship at the terminal.
The ILWU filed customary “firstdDay” motions on Monday with the court to maintain its cash management system and continue paying its employees in the ordinary course of business.
Calls to ICTSI were not immediately returned.
The bankruptcy filing came a month after the ILWU and Pacific Maritime Association agreed to a new six-year labour contract after more than a year of talks.
