Tens of Thousands Strike, Shutting Down U.S. East and Gulf Coasts

October 1, 2024 10:36 AM CDT  

By Mark Gruenberg

NORTH BERGEN, N.J.—Tens of thousands of East and Gulf Coast dockworkers shut down major American Ports at midnight Tuesday, Oct. 1 when they walked off the job, determined to fight for decent wages and to force their bosses to discuss automation.

Picket lines from the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) went up from eastern Maine through to South Texas. The historic action is ILA’s first strike in almost half a century.

One picket line, in Philadelphia, featured the ILA flag waving just below the U.S. flag. Another from New London, Conn., posted on the union’s Twitter/X feed, read “If it’s a fight they want, it’s a war they’re going to get.”

“We are prepared to fight as long as necessary, to stay out on strike for whatever period of time it takes, to get the wages and protections against automation our ILA members deserve,” union President Harold Daggett said. “They must now meet our demands for this strike to end.”

While the owners and their corporate allies screamed about losses to the economy and shortages of everything from car parts to food, the strike’s impact on consumers is not immediate. Analysts said it may not be felt for weeks if it lasts that long.

That’s because shippers, prepared in advance by the owners’ United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), stocked up. They sped up shipments to reach the East and Gulf Coast ports before USMX forced the strike or rerouted shipments to West Coast ports.

And USMX “continues to block the path toward a settlement on a new master contract by refusing ILA’s demands for a fair and decent contract,” the union explained in a separate statement.

The union wants raises high enough to make up for six years of losses due to inflation, and an end to automation of the ports—a process that has occurred for decades, often with the acquiescence of prior ILA presidents.

And, with the encouragement of the Chamber of Commerce, the owners also demanded Democratic President Joe Biden intervene to send the workers back to their jobs as talks continue, by invoking the “national security” and “economic emergency” provisions of the anti-worker, anti-union GOP-passed Taft Hartley Act of 1947.

Quizzed by reporters, Biden’s one-word answer to the owners’ demand was “no.”

Assigned top labor officials

But he assigned top Labor Department officials, led by Acting Secretary Julie Su, to talk with both ILA and the terminal bosses. Su’s mediation helped avert a West Coast longshore strike 16 months ago.

“Ocean carriers represented by USMX want to enjoy rich billion-dollar profits they are making in 2024, while they offer ILA longshore workers an unacceptable wage package that we reject”, the ILA said.

“ILA longshore workers deserve to be compensated for the important work they do keeping American commerce moving and growing. It’s disgraceful that most of these foreign-owned shipping companies are engaged in a ‘Make and Take’ operation.

“They want to make their billion-dollar profits at United States ports and off the backs of American ILA longshore workers and take those earnings out of this country and into the pockets of foreign conglomerates.

“Meanwhile, ILA dedicated longshore workers continue to be crippled by inflation due to USMX’s unfair wage packages.”

News reports said that in the final round of talks, which broke off just before midnight, both sides had moved from initial wage offers, but not far enough. And they were still hung up over port owners’ plans for further automation of the ports, which would cost workers jobs.

“United States Maritime Alliance refuses to address a half-century of wage subjugation where ocean carriers’ profits skyrocketed from millions to mega-billion dollars, while ILA longshore wages remained flat,” the union added.

Estimates of the economic impact of a prolonged strike were as high as $400 billion a day.

USMX port owners are also “gouging their customers that result in increased costs to American consumers,” the union said, citing industry trade journals. “They are now charging $30,000 for a full container, a whopping increase from $6,000 per container just a few weeks ago…They are doubling their $30,000 fee stuffing the same container from multiple shippers. They are killing the customers.” They are another example of corporate bosses bearing responsibility for high prices paid by consumers these days for just about everything. Meanwhile, Trump and Vance try to blame Kamala Harris and the administration for the high prices.

The owners also filed a labor law-breaking, formally called unfair labor practices, complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against the union, alleging it refuses to bargain in good faith. ILA dismissed that as “a weak publicity stunt” four days before USMX intransigence forced the workers out on strike.

Should charge their own members

“USMX should have brought charges against their own members who were unprepared, for exploratory master contract talks with the ILA when the two sides first met over two years ago.” The labor law-breaking charges “clearly illustrate what poor negotiating partners they have been,” the union added.

The union drew immediate support from elsewhere among organized labor.

“Relying on Taft-Hartley is not a winning strategy and should not be USMX’s expected path to resolution,” said AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department President Greg Regan and Secretary-Treasurer Shari Semelsberger.

“The Biden-Harris administration has already stated, in their own words, ‘We’ve never invoked Taft–Hartley to break a strike and are not considering doing so now.’”

Longshore workers were declared essential and worked through the coronavirus pandemic to keep food moving, TTD noted.

“They brave dangerous working conditions on the job to serve as a linchpin of our national economy. Despite years of tireless bargaining efforts, the ILA’s efforts have been unjustly branded as unreasonable. Why? For simply seeking the wages and benefits commensurate with their labor. Nothing more and nothing less.

“There is only one unreasonable party in these negotiations: USMX. Their exploitation of longshoremen is downright shameful. USMX had years to come to the negotiating table and bargain in good faith. Instead, they refused to engage in the process seriously and clung to the mantra of corporate greed. Now, facing the midnight clock, USMX is crying wolf.”

“The U.S. government should stay the f**k out of this fight and allow union workers to withhold their labor for the wages and benefits they have earned,” Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, who hails from the East Coast port of Boston, said in a statement.

He also warned the shippers that Teamsters don’t cross picket lines.

“Any workers—on the road, in the ports, in the air—should be able to fight for a better life free of government interference.

“The ocean carriers are on strike against themselves after failing to negotiate a contract that recognizes the value of these workers. Our ILA brothers and sisters play a critical role in keeping the American economy running, and they deserve industry-leading wages and robust job protections for the vital work they perform.”

And referring to anti-worker lawmakers, overwhelmingly Republicans, O’Brien added: “Corporations for too long have been able to rely on political puppets to help them strip working people of their inherent leverage.” His union “is 100% committed to standing with our Longshoremen brothers and sisters until they win the contract they deserve.”