Dockworkers Are On Strike for the First Time Since 1977. Here’s Why, and What it Means. . .
by William Upton, The NationalPulse.com, October 1, 2024
At least 36 major ports around the United States effectively shut down at midnight as a major labor union went on strike. The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) union, which represents around 45,000 port workers, says it will order a work stoppage as contract negotiations with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) employer group have completely broken down over demands for a pay increase and guarantees against job automation.
The strike, if it drags out for several weeks, could cripple U.S. markets and cause shortages of a myriad of goods just before the 2024 presidential election. Some estimates indicate the strike—which would halt container ship traffic across the entire eastern seaboard—could cost the U.S. economy upwards of $5 billion per day.
This first ILA strike since 1977, under Jimmy Carter, could lead to a shortage of perishable imported foods, foreign alcoholic products, sugar, cocoa, and even furniture and appliances shipping into the United States.
COVID, PROFITS, & AUTOMATION.
Harold Daggett, who leads the ILA, has blasted shipping companies and port management operators for months for stalling on contract negotiations. Dagget says his members want a pay increase and guarantees against the automation of crane worker jobs in a new contract with the port operators. The fiery union leader has particularly lambasted the shipping giant Maersk and APM Terminals North America.
“These people today don’t know what a strike is,” Dagget said in a recent video, adding: “I’ll cripple you. I will cripple you.”
Of particular contention for Dagget and ILA is the fact that the union has not reaped the benefits from the profit windfall many shipping companies and ports saw during the COVID-19 pandemic. The union leader notes that while most workers around the country were sidelined, his union was on the job every day.
“They’re not making millions no more. They’re making billions. And they’re spending it fast as they make it,” Dagget argues. “I want a piece of that for my men. Because when they made their most was during COVID, when my men had to go to work on those piers every single day.”
A ROCK & A HARD PLACE.
The looming strike has put President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic Party presidential nominee, between a rock and a hard place. Harris has been relatively quiet on the thus-far failed contract negotiations. Meanwhile, Biden has remained distant, though he has urged the two sides to re-enter talks within the collective bargaining framework.
President Biden has resisted calls by some in his own party, who are concerned about the impact a strike could have on the Democrats’ November election prospects, to use a federal legal provision to force the workers back to their jobs for 80 days.
Click Here to Watch the Newest We the People Convention News & Opinion Podcast!
Under the Taft-Hartley Act, the President of the United States can declare an 80-day cool-down period, essentially delaying the strike and forcing both sides back into negotiations. However, Biden has said he does not intend to invoke Taft-Hartley provision.
Instead, the Biden-Harris government has tried to increase pressure on USMX to cede ground in the negotiations. Meanwhile, USMX has countered that the longshoremen have repeatedly balked at any reasonable concession, leading them to conclude that the union does not actually wish to negotiate.
AN OCTOBER SURPRISE?
A major port strike could be a catastrophic October surprise for the Harris presidential campaign. Democrats are already seeing a collapse in support among union members and working-class voters at large. The National Pulse reported last week that state-level polling by the Teamsters Union shows President Donald J. Trump with around 60 percent support among the union’s rank-and-file membership in almost every key swing state. Kamala Harris, meanwhile, has struggled to reach 40 percent in many states.
Additionally, the Teamsters announced earlier this month that they would not be endorsing a presidential candidate in the 2024 election—the first time the union has declined to do so in nearly 30 years. Harris’s weakness among the Teamsters reflects her overall unpopularity among many voters who report working long hours and among those who lack a college degree. Additionally, the Democratic Party presidential nominee has struggled to maintain the party’s lead with Hispanic voters, indicating Donald Trump’s appeal stretches far beyond just the white working class.
