Global South Portland Terminal Workers Unanimously Vote to Unionize

Photo: (From left to right) Harlon McCarthy, Tim Gordon, Colton Carr, Caleb Fillebrown & Ken Miller.

South Portland, ME — Eight employees of the Global South Portland marine terminal voted unanimously last week to form a union with the United Steelworkers. The workers — who handle the unloading and storage of heating oil, asphalt, kerosene and other fuels — say they decided to form a union over issues of workplace safety, wages and job security. 

“We all agreed that the old ways weren’t working and we need to have a voice on the job,” said Global employee Colton Carr, who helped organize the union. “While wages are important, we also want to be able to come home to our families in one piece every night. We wanted to have a stronger voice on workplace safety so the company doesn’t cut corners to save a buck. With the world as crazy as it is, we want some job security and we need someone to have our backs. By forming a union we can gain the power we need to have a stronger voice in the workplace.”

The new USW members said they were much better situated to improve workplace safety than company executives who are working remotely because they are the “boots on the ground,” working directly with potentially dangerous machinery and substances all day. Situated on the South Portland waterfront, Global serves distillate and residual fuel truck rack customers through a five-bay truck rack, and serves commercial bunker customers over the dock.

“The times of the 1940s and 50s when you went to work, gave it your best and the company would look out for you are dead and gone,” Carr added. “If you want to get what you’re worth, you’ve got to build the collective power to demand it. It can be a little scary to form a union because the company isn’t going to like it, but at the end of the day you’ve got to have heart and stand up for yourself because, as the old saying goes, ‘Nobody is going to look out for you as good as you look out for yourself.’ You’ve got to be willing to step up and go to bat.”

The United Steelworkers represents 2400 workers in the paper, oil, public sector, services, banking and utilities sector in Maine.