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Police Arrest More Longview Longshoremen Following Protest by Tim Haeck KIRO FM, September 21, 2011

More longshoremen in Longview have been arrested after a labor fight two weeks ago.

The Cowlitz County Sheriff reports several people have been arrested for trespassing after blocking railroad tracks leading to a grain terminal. At least two people were treated after being hit with pepper spray.

A dozen officers in riot gear stood guard along the tracks as a grain train finally entered the terminal at the Port of Longview.

Two Longshore officers and about 10 wives and mothers of Longshore workers were arrested, International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 21 President Dan Coffman said in a statement.

Coffman was one of the people arrested and pepper-sprayed, The Daily News reported.

About 200 people have been arrested in demonstrations this summer at the terminal. In the early morning hours of Sept. 8, hundreds of members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union stormed the EGT terminal and damaged rail cars. Since then, sheriff's officers have limited the number of protesters.

The longshore workers are pressing their demand that the terminal operators must hire their members, not members of a different union.

Recently, a federal judge in Tacoma declared the union in contempt of court for violating his restraining order prohibiting aggressive protests at the Port of Longview.