The Nation - News from Jan. 15, 1988

Thousands of longshoremen who walked off their jobs at 15 Northwestern ports gathered in Tacoma, Wash., to protest what they said were plans by a forest products company to use other labor to load log ships. At least two dozen charter buses and more than 1,000 cars filled three parking lots outside the Tacoma Dome’s convention hall where members of the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union were meeting. The union’s estimated 3,500 Northwestern members stopped work at 6 p.m. Wednesday, halting ship loading and unloading at major ports in Washington and Oregon, and were to end the work stoppage at 8 a.m. today.