New Port of Olympia union critiques delays in negotiating contract

Local members of the new union representing the marina and boatworks employees at the Port of Olympia demanded the signing of a fair union contract.

Ten people spoke during the public comments section of the Port of Olympia commission meeting on February 13 to criticize the delays in signing the contract of Local 47-B, which was formed in April 2022.

Local resident Debby Pattin said that the members of Local 47-B simply want the same standards for Local 47-A, the union of marine terminal workers, to be applied at the new union. Patton claimed that since Local 47-B was formed, “the port's bargaining team has canceled bargaining sessions multiple times without rescheduling.”

“While the 47-B employees have consistently offered to meet anytime… the bargaining team keeps telling the 47-B team that they can't find any time to meet with them [and] can't even find more than 15 minutes to schedule additional bargaining sessions,” she said.

A Local 47 member who identified himself as Scott added that when the bargaining team met with them to inform them how the Port is studying for their compensation, the team said they were looking into the compensation at the ports in Willapa, Kennewick, Clarkston, and Woodland.

"Certainly, management wouldn't want their compensations compared with those small ports like Willapa,” Scott said. “We know how ridiculous it is with the cost of living in Olympia.”

Scott added that the bargaining team did not accurately compare the job positions and responding duties in the Port of Olympia to other ports.

Port commissioners do not regularly comment on the public comments until the end of the meeting, but Commissioner Bob Iyall, the only commissioner physically present at the meeting, said that they “look forward to resolving these issues.”

Port Commissioner Amy Evans Harding said that she did not feel she was in the appropriate forum to make specific responses.

CORRECTION: July 25, 2023 -- Previously we misspelled Debby Pattin's name. We regret our error.