Dockworkers on the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast rose up in their first strike in nearly 50 years, halting the flow of nearly half of the country’s shipping. There are almost 50,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), who demand negotiations for a new labor contract.
Imports and exports from the United States are stopped, as almost all loading ports from Maine to Texas stopped their work due to the workers’ strike.
Products stopped include: bananas, European beer, wine and liquor, along with European furniture, clothing, housewares and cars, as well as parts needed to keep American factories operating and workers detained.
It could also stop U.S. exports now flowing through those ports, hurting sales for U.S. companies, CNN reported.
Analysts warned that this disruption will cost the country’s economy billions of dollars a day, threaten jobs and potentially stoke inflation.
President Joe Biden and his administration have signaled that they will not use federal powers to end the strike, and since Tuesday it broke out, they have pressured dockworker bosses to increase their contract offer to reach an agreement, Reuters said. .
Until the late hours of Tuesday, October 1, the parties were negotiating, but apparently did not reach an agreement, and the strike is heading into a second day.
Contract for 6 years and salary increase
The International Longshoremen’s Association union, which represents 45,000 longshore workers, had been negotiating with the employers group United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) for a new six-year contract ahead of Monday’s midnight deadline, Reuters said.
The ILA said in a statement that it closed all ports from Maine to Texas at 12:01 a.m. ET (0401 GMT) after rejecting the final USMX proposal, adding that the offer was “far below the demands of its members.” to ratify a new contract.”
“USMX sparked this strike when they decided to stand firm with foreign-owned shipping lines that make billions of dollars in US ports, but fail to compensate the American ILA longshore workers who do the work that brings them their wealth. ”ILA President Harold Daggett said in a statement obtained by CNN.
“We are prepared to fight as long as it takes, to stay on strike as long as it takes, to get the wages and protections against automation that ILA members deserve,” Daggett added.
38 ships are anchored
Workers are demanding a pay rise and a ban on the automation of cranes, doors and trucks that load and unload containers. The union ensures that employees do hard work every day that keeps the global economy running.
There are an estimated 38 anchored container ships waiting near U.S. ports.
Donald Trump blamed inflation for the strike, which he said was caused by the Biden-Harris administration.
“Everyone understands dockworkers because they were decimated by this inflation, just like everyone else in our country and beyond,” Trump said in an interview, quoted by Fox News Digital.
Some of the ports affected by the workers’ strike are in the states of New York, New Jersey, Maine, Texas, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Florida, among others.
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