Just in case getting supplies isn’t expensive enough (or difficult enough in the areas hit by Hurricane Helene), now the dockworkers from Maine to Texas have gone on strike. And whether they win or lose their standoff, it’s the American consumers who will lose the most.
Last night, at midnight, the contract between the ports and nearly 50,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association expired. Workers immediately walked off the job. Thirty-six ports are currently affected by the strike.
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What do the dockworkers want?
Well, your mileage may vary. Here’s their statement:
In a statement to ABC News early Tuesday, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) confirmed the union’s first coastwide strike in nearly 50 years was underway. The statement said that “tens of thousands of ILA rank-and-file members” started to set up picket lines at shipping ports up and down the Atlantic and Gulf coasts as of 12:01 am.
“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,” ILA President Harold Daggett said.
Other information was added.
“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,” Daggett said in the statement. “They must now meet our demands for this strike to end.”
The fight against having their jobs taken over by robot dockworkers is understandable. They note that the shipping companies made billions of dollars during the pandemic, and they feel some of that should trickle down.
The union’s opening offer in the talks was for a 77% pay raise over the six-year life of the contract, with president Harold Daggett saying it’s necessary to make up for inflation and years of small raises.
ILA members make a base salary of about $81,000 per year, but some can pull in over $200,000 annually with large amounts of overtime.
Hellbound and Down 