Thousands of unionised dockworkers at 14 major ports from Maine to Texas went on strike after midnight on Tuesday after failing to reach agreement on a new contract.
The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), which organised the first East Coast port strike since 1977, said in a statement on Facebook early Tuesday that it ‘shut down’ the ports at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday as workers ‘began forming picket lines at waterfront facilities on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts’.
The union said the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) rejected its final offer on Monday, ‘setting the stage for the first coast-wide ILA strike in nearly 50 years’.
The USMX initiated this strike when it decided not to give up its belief that foreign-owned ocean carriers can make billions of dollars in profits in U.S. ports and not compensate American ILA dockworkers who performed the work that made them a fortune,’ said union president Harold Daggett.
Daggett added that ILA members were prepared to ‘fight as long as it takes, stay on strike as long as it takes’ to win the wages and protection from automation they deserve.
USMX said in an online statement on Monday night that it had ‘discussed counter-proposals on wages’ ahead of the strike.
Our proposal would increase wages by about 50 per cent, triple employer contributions to employee pension plans, strengthen our healthcare options and maintain existing language on automation and semi-automation,’ the statement said.
The strike appears to have put President Joe Biden in a difficult position. Under the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, the president has the power to intervene to prevent or end a strike and impose an 80-day cooling-off period.
But this is not the kind of move that Biden, who claims to be the ‘most pro-worker’ president in history, can make without serious backlash from unions and their supporters.
On Monday afternoon, the US Chamber of Commerce called on the president to intervene to stop the strike.
A White House official said late Monday that administration officials, including chief of staff Jeff Zients, labour secretary Julie Su and economic adviser Lael Brainard, have been in regular contact with both sides to keep negotiations moving forward.
In the case of the rail workers, the White House has previously blocked workers from striking ahead of the holiday and faced a backlash from the labour community.
JPMorgan estimates that the daily cost to the economy of a strike would be $3.8-4.5 billion. The Conference Board, on the other hand, takes a more conservative approach and puts the cost to the economy of a week-long strike at $3.7 billion.
The strike will affect around 45,000 workers, but will also have a knock-on effect on other jobs, including warehousing and transport.
Oxford Economics estimates that up to 105,000 more workers could be temporarily unemployed.
