The Longshoremen’s Strike Is Bad, Actually
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The Longshoremen’s Strike Is Bad, Actually
by Andrew Egger
The East Coast dockworkers of the International Longshoremen’s Association are striking, and the economy is taking a hit as a result. The overall cost of additional snarls to U.S. supply chains is projected to be substantial: $3.78 billion over the course of the first week, according to an analysis by the Conference Board. The inflationary pressures could be significant.
President Joe Biden won’t knock the union: He’s determined to keep his pro-labor bona fides intact. In a statement, he urged shipping companies to return to the negotiating table: “It’s only fair that workers, who put themselves at risk during the pandemic to keep ports open, see a meaningful increase in their wages as well.”
Donald Trump won’t knock the union: He’s making a play for the labor vote, too, and wouldn’t mind another round of price hikes to blame on Biden. “The strike was caused by the massive inflation that was created by the Harris-Biden regime,” he told Fox News Digital. “Everybody understands the dockworkers because they were decimated by this inflation, just like everybody else in our country and beyond.”
Dockworkers strike outside of the Port of Newark after members of the International Longshoremen’s Association began walking off the job after 12:01 a.m. ET on October 01, 2024. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
But I will knock the union—because they’re a cartel of rent-seeking Luddites attempting to hold the economy hostage a month before a presidential election in an attempt to forbid the nation from improving the efficiency of its shipping operations.
No one can begrudge a union trying to improve its members’ wages: That’s a perennial dispute between labor and management, and it’s true that shipping companies are coming off some fat post-pandemic years. Still, it’s worth noting that we’re not talking about a group just trying to scratch out a living wage here. As they’re currently compensated, senior longshoremen can make more than $200,000 a year while factoring in overtime pay. The shippers of the U.S. Maritime Alliance had offered to bump that compensation up nearly 50 percent in their new contract; the union turned them down.
Why? Partly because the union wants even more money. But they also want suppliers to lock in agreements not to allow any part of the complicated process of loading and unloading container ships to be fully automated. They’re dead serious about this: “Talks between the I.L.A and port operators broke off in June,” the New York Times reports, “after the union said it discovered a gate at a port in Mobile, Alabama that was using technology to check and let in trucks without the involvement of dockworkers.”
A gate that scans in trucks without a six-figure union guy there to supervise it? These greedy corporations will try to get away with anything!
Union resistance to automation is a major part of why U.S. ports are far less efficient than many other major ports around the world. It’s crucial to apply this drag on all U.S. imports and exports in perpetuity, the union insists, because increased automation could mean “more than 2,250 East Coast workers losing their jobs.”
Until their demands are met, ILA negotiators are content to cripple the U.S. economy, no matter how many (less well paid) workers in other industries end up hurt. They’re saying this explicitly, in fact.
“When my men hit the streets from Maine to Texas, every single port, a lockdown,” ILA president Harold Daggett said last month. “First week, be all over the news every night. Second week? Guys who sell cars can’t sell cars because the cars ain’t coming in off the ships. They get laid off. Third week? Mall starts closing down. They can’t get the goods from China. They can’t sell clothes. They can’t do this. Everything in the United States comes on a ship. They go out of business. Construction workers: They get laid off because the materials aren’t coming in. . . . They lose their jobs.”
“Who’s gonna win here in the long run?” he went on. “You’re better off sitting down, and let’s get a contract, and let’s move on with this world. In today’s world, I’ll cripple you. I’ll cripple you, and you have no idea what that means.”
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I am generally very sympathetic to union actions. I'm having some trouble getting there with this one though.
they have turned down a 50% wage increase.
They want extended immunity from job replacement from automation.
Automation is inevitable. Maybe they can negotiate a way to phase it in relatively gradually.
They want 77%. of course I can sort of see why. The head stick of the union pulled down $900K last year.
How much did the head of the shipping companies make ?
Looks like 3-5 times that
Their mafia boss made a great case for automating the work and getting rid of as many longshoremen as possible as a national security measure in his interview the other day.
As they’re currently compensated, senior longshoremen can make more than $200,000 a year while factoring in overtime pay. The shippers of the U.S. Maritime Alliance had offered to bump that compensation up nearly 50 percent in their new contract; the union turned them down.
I hope they choke on their next meal. This would be like food service workers demanding to be compensated like executives.
As a long time longie on the W/C at the ports of LA/LB the largest in the US here are my thoughts on the strike. The main point is automation not the money/wages issue and it isn’t going away anytime and will spread unions. There are two sides USMX is the other party in this representing the SS lines so this isn’t all on the union.
next the dumb ass representing the ILA is, IMO going to cause more problems than cures. Keep your mouth shut you are aleinating more people than having them offer support. You can talk tough without sounding like a gangsta.
the ILWU on the west coast have all your points settled and in the labor contracts.
Harry bridges the president of the ILWU for years was a true leader and in fact encouraged automation since he was bright enough to see the future heading at the industry like a run away freight train in also covered the automation issue by installing a minimum number employed as automation marched on.