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international longshoremen s association
Dockworkers Suspend Strike After Winning Tentative Deal With 62% Wage Boost
"When we STRIKE, we WIN!" said the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest federation of unions.
Oct 04, 2024
The union representing East and Gulf Coast dockworkers suspended its strike on Thursday after reaching a tentative agreement with shipping giants that reportedly includes a 62% wage boost over six years.
The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) said in a joint statement with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) that the union would suspend its strike until January 15 so the two sides can "return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues."
"Effective immediately, all current job actions will cease and all work covered by the Master Contract will resume," the statement added.
The tentative deal followed three days on the picket line during which dockworkers—who are essential to the functioning of the U.S. economy—cast their fight as a critical struggle against multinational corporations that raked in huge profits during the Covid-19 pandemic and enriched their investors as wages failed to keep pace with inflation.
“These companies... they don't give a fuck about us," Harold Daggett, the ILA's president, said from a picket line in New Jersey earlier this week. "Well, we're gonna show them they're gonna have to give a fuck about us. Because nothing's gonna move without us."
According to one estimate, the dozens of ports affected by the strike handle a combined 25% of the United States' international trade.
The Associated Pressreported Thursday that the two sides reached a tentative deal after "the ports sweetened their wage offer from about 50% over six years to 62%."
The union originally sought a 77% raise, but in recent days Daggett said the ILA would pursue a 61.5% raise for workers over the course of a new contract. Daggett rejected the shipping industry's previous wage offers as "insulting."
"Congratulations to ILA members for making huge strides and thank you to the millions of union members who stood in solidarity with them."
Under the contract that expired earlier this week, starting pay for dockworkers was $20 an hour.
Any final agreement must be ratified by union members, who also demanded protections from automation and other benefit improvements. Reutersreported that automation is among the "key issues that remain unresolved."
"When we STRIKE, we WIN!" the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest federation of unions, wrote on social media late Thursday. "Congratulations to ILA members for making huge strides and thank you to the millions of union members who stood in solidarity with them."
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) also congratulated "the 50,000 port workers who went on strike against the outrageous corporate greed of the shipping industry and won a historic increase in wages."
"Billionaires in the shipping industry must not be allowed to get even richer by replacing port workers with robots," the senator wrote.
Sanders added that Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su "did a great job negotiating a tentative agreement to increase the wages of port workers by 62% over six years."
The Biden administration declined to intervene on the side of industry to halt the strike, and President Joe Biden issued a statement earlier this week noting that "ocean carriers have made record profits since the pandemic and in some cases profits grew in excess of 800% compared to their profits prior to the pandemic."
"Executive compensation has grown in line with those profits and profits have been returned to shareholders at record rates," said Biden. "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."
In a statement following news of the tentative deal, Biden said that "today's tentative agreement on a record wage and an extension of the collective bargaining process represents critical progress towards a strong contract."
"I congratulate the dockworkers from the ILA, who deserve a strong contract after sacrificing so much to keep our ports open during the pandemic," the president said. "And I applaud the port operators and carriers who are members of the U.S. Maritime Alliance for working hard and putting a strong offer on the table."
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Amid Ports Strike, Note That Shipping Giant Maersk Spent $6.5 Billion on Stock Buybacks
"The same foreign-owned shipping giants that say they can't find the money for fairer wages and treatment of American port workers managed to find billions of dollars to enrich a small group of wealthy investors."
Oct 03, 2024
Amid a strike that dockworkers along the East and Gulf Coasts argue is about "corporate greed vs. workers rights," a watchdog group is highlighting how at least one shipping giant on the other side of the labor battle has recently poured billions of dollars into stock buybacks.
Around 45,000 members of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) walked off the job at 12:01 am Tuesday after unsuccessful negotiations with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), a shipping industry group that includes Maersk.
In an analysis released Wednesday, Accountable.US pointed out that as part of Maersk's $12 billion stock buyback program, the Danish shipping company "has spent $6.5 billion buying back nearly 3 million Class A and B shares as of January 2024."
"When the big shipping industry was faced with a choice—share its success with the U.S. workers that delivered it, or go overboard with greed—its executives clearly chose the latter."
When companies pursue stock buybacks—also called share repurchases—they reduce the number of shares available on the market, which inflates earnings per share, enriching shareholders. The practice has fueled calls to hike the U.S. corporate tax rate.
Maersk paused its buybacks in February. CNBCreported at the time that the company "flagged 'high uncertainty' in its 2024 earnings outlook amid Red Sea disruptions and an oversupply of shipping vessels."
Still, Accountable.US framed what Maersk has done so far as proof that the shipping giant and fellow USMX members have the capital to end this strike, as ILA president Harold Daggett asserted this week.
"The same foreign-owned shipping giants that say they can't find the money for fairer wages and treatment of American port workers managed to find billions of dollars to enrich a small group of wealthy investors after riding a wave of record profits," said Liz Zelnick, director of the Economic Security & Corporate Power Program at Accountable.US, in a statement.
"When the big shipping industry was faced with a choice—share its success with the U.S. workers that delivered it, or go overboard with greed—its executives clearly chose the latter," Zelnick added.
The watchdog also took aim at COSCO Shipping Holdings, which last year "announced plans to buy back up to $101 million of its A shares, with plans for further buybacks, after reporting an 'industry-beating' profit of $2.7 billion in the first half of 2023."
Meanwhile, amid concerns about the economic fallout from the strike, the tens of thousands of striking ILA port workers emphasize that they are eager to return to work, but need a contract with wage increases and protections from automation.
"The action is going to give us a fair contract and we can get back to work to get people the goods they need," Joe Mosquera, a crane operator and union organizer with ILA, Local 1235, toldThe Guardian Thursday. "This is for our future generations. To keep automation out is to keep our jobs for the future. And if anything becomes automated, we want to make sure that there's a worker to back it up."
The industry's biggest strike since 1977 is already having an impact. Citing Everstream Analytics, Reutersreported Thursday that "at least 45 container vessels that have been unable to unload had anchored up outside the strike-hit East Coast and Gulf Coast ports by Wednesday, up from just three before the strike began on Sunday."
The workers are backed by U.S. President Joe Biden—who is empowered by an anti-union federal law to break the strike but has signaled he won't—and various pro-worker lawmakers, including the congressional Labor Caucus, co-chaired by Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) Donal Norcross (D-N.J.), and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.).
"We stand in solidarity with the ILA workers in their fight for a fair contract with USMX," the caucus said in a statement shared by the union Wednesday. "We've seen unions secure historic contracts for workers across the country in recent years, and now ILA workers—who kept our economy moving throughout the pandemic—are fighting for their share of the profits they helped create."
"Contract negotiations can be difficult at times, but collective bargaining is the best way for workers and employers to come to a fair agreement," the caucus added. "We encourage all parties to remain at the bargaining table and negotiate in good faith to reach a fair contract that reflects the success of the companies."
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'Not Us—They Are!' Union Leader Rejects Fox News Spin on Port Strikes
"People never gave a shit about us until now, when they finally realized that the chain is being broke now."
Oct 02, 2024
Amid concerns over fallout from the dockworker strike at ports up and down the East Coast, the head of the International Longshoremen's Association stressed in a Fox News appearance Tuesday that it's greedy companies, not 45,000 striking workers, who are to blame for any economic impacts that may follow from the labor dispute.
"They don't care," ILA president Harold Daggett said of shipping companies. "It's not fair. And if we don't put our foot down now, they would like to run over us, and we're not gonna allow that."
The Fox reporter then said, "You are gonna grind the economy to a halt here on the East Coast and the Gulf Coast."
Daggett fired back: "Not us—they are! Don't spin it now because you're Fox News... They have the capital to settle this thing."
Longshoreman President Harold Daggett praises Secretary of Labor Julie Su, and attacks the corporations whose greed has seen them make $400 billion in profit by jacking up prices since the start of the pandemic. pic.twitter.com/IO2hizqpOX
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) October 1, 2024
Reutersreported Wednesday that "the strike, the ILA's first major stoppage since 1977, is worrying businesses that rely on ocean shipping to export their wares or secure crucial imports. It affects 36 ports—including New York, Baltimore, and Houston—that handle a range of containerized goods ranging from bananas to clothing to cars."
As the Fox reporter emphasized the impacts of the strike, Daggett said, "Now you start to realize who the longshoremen are, right?"
"People never gave a shit about us until now, when they finally realized that the chain is being broke now," he continued. "Cars won't come in. Food won't come in. Clothing won't come in. You know how many people depend on our jobs? Half the world!"
"And it's time for them, and time for Washington, to put so much pressure on them to take care of us," he added. "Because we took care of them, and we're here 135 years and brought them where they are today and they don't want to share!"
The ILA members walked off the job just after midnight on Tuesday, following the collapse of negotiations with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX). The union is pushing for annual raises and protections from automation in the six-year contract.
Democratic President Joe Biden has power to break the strike—thanks to the anti-union law known as the Taft-Hartley Act—but has said he doesn't plan to do so. The ILA has welcomed the involvement of Biden's acting secretary of labor, Julie Su, whom Daggett called "terrific."
"We took care of them... and brought them where they are today and they don't want to share!"
In a Wednesday statement, the union leader said that his members "are grateful for the wisdom, courage, and leadership" of Su.
"Our ILA rank-and-file members will continue to strike for fair wages and their share of the foreign ocean carriers record billion-dollar profits and we are grateful to have the support of the U.S. Labor Department," Daggett declared.
His comments came in response to Su saying Tuesday that "over the last week and more, I have spent hours on the phone and in meetings with the parties urging them to find a way to reach a fair contract. This country's port workers put their health and safety on the line to keep working through the pandemic so we could get the goods we needed as Covid raged and these workers will help communities recover from the devastating effects of Hurricane Helene."
"As these companies make billions and their CEOs bring in millions of dollars in compensation per year, they have refused to put an offer on the table that reflects workers' sacrifice and contributions to their employer's profits," she added. "The American economy has defied all expectations thanks to the Biden-Harris administration's leadership. There is room for both companies and their workers to prosper. The parties need to get back to the negotiating table, and that must begin with these giant shipping magnates acknowledging that if they can make record profits, their workers should share in that economic success."
Biden—who blocked a rail strike in 2022 but then last year became the first sitting president to walk a picket line—put out a similar statement in support of longshoremen on Tuesday, saying on social media that "it's time those ocean carriers offered a strong and fair contract that reflects ILA workers’ contribution to our economy and to their record profits."
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for the November election, piled on with a Wedneday campaign statement highlighting that "this strike is about fairness. Foreign-owned shipping companies have made record profits and executive compensation has grown. The longshoremen, who play a vital role transporting essential goods across America, deserve a fair share of these record profits."
Harris pointed out that her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, "wants to pull us back to a time before workers had the freedom to organize," noting that "as president, he blocked overtime benefits for millions of workers, he appointed union-busters to the [National Labor Relations Board]—and just recently, he said striking workers should be fired."
"Donald Trump makes empty promise after empty promise to American workers, but never delivers. He thinks our economy should only work for those who own the big skyscrapers, not those who actually build them," she added. "As president, I will have workers' backs and finally pass the [Protecting the Right to Organize] Act. And I will fight for an opportunity economy—where every person has the chance not just to get by but to get ahead."
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