LONGVIEW, Wash. -- The Port of Longview approved a settlement agreement Friday with EGT (Export Grain Terminal) and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union settling unresolved legal issues between the parties.

The port also approved an amendment to its lease with EGT agreeing that the terminal is no longer bound by the port's working agreement with ILWU Local 21.

In exchange, EGT agreed that the ILWU/PMA Joint Dispatch Hall (Local 21) shall provide the labor for EGT's facility at the Port of Longview and agreed to a union card check procedure.

If a majority of workers indicate their preference to be represented by ILWU Local 21 at the EGT facility, EGT and ILWU Local 21 expect to negotiate the details of a labor agreement for all landside and shipside operations.

ILWU Coast Committeeman Leal Sundet said in a news release, "In a unanimous vote on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, ILWU Local 21's rank and file approved the legal settlement agreement and the steps forward. Today's developments are a positive signal that the relationship between ILWU Local 21 and EGT is moving in the right direction."

-- Steve Brown