East Coast Dockworkers Plan To Strike Tuesday, Hobbling Supply Chain
Daily WireSEP 20 2024
Some 45K US dockworkers ended their 3-day strike Thursday following an International Longshoremen's Association (ILA)-US Maritime Alliance (USMX) deal.
An ILA-USMX joint statement ending the three-day strike tentatively agreed on key issues like wages and held off others like automation for further talks.
It was reportedly agreed that the workers' wages would rise 62% over six years. While ILA wanted it up 77%, USMX had offered a 50% hike.
The US dockworkers' strike exposed the ugly underbelly of union monopolies. It threatened to paralyze trade and harm countless lower-paid workers across industries, demonstrating how unchecked union power can lead to extortion-like tactics, ultimately hurting the very workers that the unions claim to protect.
The deal struck by the dockworkers and port operators is a welcome mid-path that helps both sides move forward. The dockworkers deserve fair compensation for their crucial role in keeping American commerce moving. Foreign shipping companies are making billions in profits while workers struggle with inflation.
Let not Thursday's tentative agreement lull us into believing that the US's ports problem is solved. The issue at the heart of the dispute, automation, remains. It is an existential threat to well-paid workers and the strike was merely the opening salvo and the agreement merely bought time.