The Union and BCS met on July 21, 2021 with a Federal Mediator as scheduled. The Union made proposals in an attempt to move the Parties closer to an agreement, but unfortunately BCS responded with another last, best, and final offer and said they were done bargaining, with no more movement to make. Obviously, Doug Thomas has no intention to bargain in good faith and “do right by our people” as he claimed. The Union is now forced to file more bad faith bargaining charges with the National Labor Relations Board, as well as charges for the Company’s retaliation against workers for participating in strike action.

This refusal to bargain by BCS comes even after the Teamster represented employees made an unconditional return to work and began the process of repairing the damage and disruption caused be the unskilled replacement workers brought in from out of state during the strike. These Teamsters now find themselves tasked with locating lost product, cleaning up enormous amounts of damaged goods, and repairing damaged property, due to the complete lack of skill and care of the replacement workers. Sometimes in what are reported to be dangerous conditions because of improperly warehoused product.

There should be no place in our community for this type of treatment of employees. Especially from an employer that does business as a tenant of the Port of Bellingham. Our hope is that BCS and the Joshua Green Corporation will see the value that their skilled employees bring to the business and will return to the bargaining table to actually bargain in good faith. The Union will provide additional bargaining dates to the Federal Mediator.