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.While the ILA wanted a 77% wage increase over six years, and USMX offered a 50% hike, the two sides reportedly agreed to a 62% pay raise, increasing the average hourly port worker wage from $39 to $63 over that period.
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 two sides will continue to negotiate the issue of automation, which the workers fear threatens their jobs, before the current contract extension until Jan. 15. If the other issues aren't solved over the next 90 days, the pay raise will be retracted.
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.
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