U.S. Port Workers Strike

[ExquisiteGerbil]

Port Workers Prepare to Strike as Deadline Looms Closer
Elizabeth Weibel
30 Sep 2024

Thousands of workers at more than a dozen ports throughout the United States are preparing to go on strike as the deadline for their union and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) to reach an agreement looms closer.



Dockworkers with the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), who work at roughy 14 ports along the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico are set to go on strike as of October 1 if their union and the USMX do not reach an agreement regarding their labor contract, according to the Hill.



Roughly “25,000 port workers employed in contain and roll-on/roll-off operations at ports on the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts” are currently covered under the current agreement, according to the USMX.



The ILA is described as being the “largest union of maritime workers in North America,” and represents roughly 85,000 longshoremen located along “the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, Great Lakes, major U.S. rivers, Puerto Rico and Eastern Canada,” according to the union’s website.

A report from the Conference Board found that if the workers do go on strike, it could “cause serious economic fallout.”



“Just a one-week strike could cost the US economy $3.78 billion (i.e., $540 million per day),” the Conference Board wrote in the report.


The report also noted that if the port workers go on strike, it would “come at a critical time” ahead of the November presidential election and “as retailers scramble to finish importing inventory to ensure customers are well supplied ahead of the busy holiday shopping season.”



While President Joe Biden indicated that he would not intervene in the strike, under the Taft-Hartley Act, Biden would be allowed to get involved and “request an 80-day court-ordered cooling-off period,” according to the Hill.



Ahead of the potential strike, Americans were reported to be stocking up on “essential supplies,” Fox Business reported.



One person told the outlet that the possible strike had them “worried,” adding that it was “hard to be able to make ends meet as it is.”



Update 12:13 am ET: The NY Times reports, “Both sides have moved off their previous positions,” the Maritime Alliance said in a news release. “We are hopeful that this could allow us to fully resume collective bargaining.”

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[Midnight]

Longshore Union President Who Pledged to “CRIPPLE” the United States, Owns 76-Ft Yacht, Bentley, Is Paid Almost 1 MILLION Per Year, Body of His Co-Defendant In RICO Case Was Found Decomposing In Trunk by Patty McMurray
Oct. 1, 2024 3:40 pm


Americans have been warned to stock up on food, gas, and necessary items for several weeks. Many claim massive shortages of items we use every day will occur due to a looming strike by the ILA (International Longshore Association).

On Sept. 27, US Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene warned about the ramifications of a strike in a tweet. Rep. Greene claims, “It’s very important to understand how critical this is given that America is now in a $36 billion dollar food trade deficit for the first time in our nation’s history.



Also, the Biden-Harris administration and congressional out-of-control spending have driven inflation so high that many Americans can’t afford quality of life.



I think this situation is serious and, depending on whether they strike and how long it lasts, could be a crisis going into the election, holidays, and winter.



Retailers have been trying to stock up in preparation, but it’s always smart to be personally prepared just in case.”

Yesterday, the International Longshore Association, headed up by a union boss who’s threatened to “cripple” America’s economy, which many economists are warning is already in a recession, endorsed Kamala Harris.

Today, the ILA announced they would follow through on their threat to strike.



CNBC shared some of the key points on the massive strike, which include:



50,000 ILA union longshoremen who walked off the job at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports from New England to Texas starting at 12:01 a.m. ET on Tuesday after failing to reach an agreement with port ownership on a new contract. This was the union’s first strike since 1977.

Between 43% and 49% of all U.S. imports and billions of dollars in trade monthly move through the U.S. East Coast and Gulf ports.

The International Longshoremen’s Association, the largest maritime union in North America, said in a Tuesday statement from ILA president Harold Daggett that it wants a $5 an hour per year increase over six years, all royalties for containers handled, and strict language against automation. The union had rejected an offer from the port management group USMX on Monday that included a wage hike over six years near 50%.

Truckers who were interviewed about the longshoreman strike are warned, “it’s the last thing we need right now.” With the current recession that’s not being talked about, truckers are concerned about the effect of the ILA strike.

So, what do we know about the ILA President Harold Daggett, who appears to be holding the cards to crippling the U.S. economy?



The New York Post reported on Mr. Daggett today, and their report of the ILA boss was less than flattering.



Fiery union boss Harold Daggett has long cast himself as a staunch advocate for blue-collar workers, even as he has lived in luxury, owning a yacht and driving a Bentley — and fought off alleged ties to the Mafia.



Sporting a polo shirt with a chunky gold medallion around his neck, the 78-year-old Daggett, who as president of the International Longshoremen’s Association is leading the port strikes stretching from Maine to Texas, was prone to theatrical flourishes in a September interview as he geared up for the strike.







“They’re gonna be like this,” Daggett said, grabbing his neck in a choking gesture. “I’ll cripple you. I will cripple you and you have no idea what that means. Nobody does.”



According to the New York Post, Daggett has worked at the ILA for 57 years and took the helm as president in 2011 — raked in $728,000 in compensation last year from the ILA.



He collected another $173,000 as president emeritus of a local union branch, according to labor department filings.



According to Zillow and NJ Property Records, he lives in a 7,136-square-foot house valued at $1.7 million on a 10-acre lot in Sparta, New Jersey.



Watch:







Elon Musk may have just helped the world to understand better who Mr. Daggett is with one simple retweet of Max Meyer, editor of Arena Magazine, who, only two hours ago, tweeted:



Harold Daggett, the ILA boss who pledged to “cripple” the United States, owns a 76-foot yacht, a Bentley, and gets paid over $900,000.



He was acquitted on RICO charges after the main witness against him, mobster Lawrence Ricci, was found decomposing in a car trunk in New Jersey.



Meyer’s tweet included two screenshots with stunning information about the man the US government has accused of being tied to the mafia.



Blue collar credentials



Mr Daggett is a figure whose long union career has been shrouded in controversy. A third

generation ILA member, the longshoreman has worked for the union for 57 years, becoming the

international president in July 2011.



Despite his eminent blue-collar credentials, the union baron earned $728,000 last year from the

ILA, plus another $173,000 as president emeritus of a local union branch, Politico reported.

He previously owned a 76-foot yacht, the Obsession, and has been spotted by his members riding

in a Bentley, according to The New York Times.



The Justice Department, which has reportedly lost two cases against Mr Daggett, has accused him

of being an “associate” of the Genovese crime family——one of the infamous “five families” of the US Mafia.



In another screenshot, Meyer included the following information on the ILA boss:



Charged with racketeering in 2005, Mr Daggett, took the witness stand and portrayed himself as a mob

target, despite evidence against him from a turncoat Mafia enforcer saying he was under the mob’s control,

the New York Times reported.



During that trial, one of Mr Daggett’s co-defendants, a renowned mobster named Lawrence Ricci,

disappeared. His decomposing body was found in the trunk of a car outside a New Jersey diner several

weeks later, with the killing still unsolved.



Despite his union serving as a historic symbol of the grip of organised crime on union members, as

depicted in the 1954 film “On the Waterfront’, Mr Daggett was acquitted in both cases.

The union leader has previously criticised the Waterfront Commission, set up to combat Mafia control of

the port, calling the allegations of mob influence “total bulls—“, and a “dark, ugly attack on Italian Americans.”



Here is the tweet:

Musk’s response to this shocking revelation was summed up by one word, “Wow!”



Here’s how Joe Biden responded today when reporters asked him about the strike, as his wife Jill, who apparently, has given up on protecting him from the media, walks briskly away:

Elon Musk likely speaks for the majority of Americans who are sick and tired of watching dues of hard-working union members enriching their fat-cat bosses who make deals with Democrats behind the scenes to endorse them and keep their campaign coffers filled while they screw everyday Americans.

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[ExquisiteGerbil]

U.S. Port Workers on Strike: First Industrial Action in Almost 50 Years

Simon Kent
1 Oct 2024

Tens of thousands of port workers along the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico went on strike in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the first industrial action by the U.S. longshoremen’s union in almost half a century.



The stoppage could cost the U.S. economy $5bn a day after an “impasse” stalled negotiations over wages and automation.



Port facilities from Maine to Texas were surrounded by walking picket lines in a stoppage that stands to reignite inflation and cause shortages of goods if it goes on more than a few weeks.



AP reports the contract between the ports and about 45,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) expired at midnight, and even though progress was reported in talks on Monday, the workers went on strike. The strike affecting 36 ports is the first by the union since 1977.



Workers began picketing at the Port of Philadelphia shortly after midnight, walking in a circle at a rail crossing outside the port and chanting “No work without a fair contract.”



The union had message boards on the side of a truck reading: “Automation Hurts Families: ILA Stands For Job Protection.”


“We are prepared to fight as long as necessary, to stay out on strike for whatever period of time it takes,” said ILA president Harold Daggett, calling for the USMX to “meet our demands for this strike to end.”



The three dozen affected ports, which stretch from Maine to Texas, together handle one-quarter of the country’s international trade, worth $3tn a year, according to an analysis by The Conference Board, the Financial Times reports.



The business group warned the work stoppage would “paralyse U.S. trade”, halting imports of food, pharmaceuticals, consumer electronics and apparel. The union said it would continue to handle military cargo.

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The ILA is described as being the “largest union of maritime workers in North America,” and represents roughly 85,000 longshoremen located along “the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, Great Lakes, major U.S. rivers, Puerto Rico and Eastern Canada,” according to the union’s website.

[PurplePuppy]

Dockworkers Strike Ends as Workers Reach Deal

by Cristina Laila
Oct. 3, 2024 7:00 pm


The dockworkers’ strike ended on Thursday as workers reached a deal on wages.



“The International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd. have reached a tentative agreement on wages and have agreed to extend the Master Contract until January 15, 2025 to return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues,” The International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance said in a joint statement.



The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), representing workers at 36 ports from Maine to Texas, made in clear earlier this week that the strike was not only about wages but also about job protection in the face of creeping automation.



The strike began early Tuesday morning as the contract between the ILA and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) expired without a resolution.



45,000 dockworkers went on strike which prompted panic buying at Costco.



“ILU wages will increase 61.5% over six years under the tentative agreement, sources told CNBC’s Lori Ann LaRocco. A central conflict over port automation is still under negotiation,” CNBC reported.



Excerpt from CNBC:



A major union for U.S. dockworkers and the United States Maritime Alliance agreed on Thursday to a tentative deal on wages and have extended their existing contract through Jan. 15 to provide time to negotiate a new contract.



The move ends a strike that had snarled East Coast and Gulf Coast ports since the beginning of the week and threatened U.S. supply of fruits, automobiles, and other goods.



During the week, the strike had already started to stress the U.S. supply chain. Thousands of containers had been dumped at the wrong ports, and billions of dollars in goods were anchored offshore because ports were not operational, CNBC previously reported. Shipping costs had already started to rise.



The strike was the first by the ILA since 1977, and it impacted operations at 14 different ports. About 50,000 of the union’s 85,000 members were on strike this week. In a statement on Tuesday, ILA President Harold Daggett said the union was asking for an increase of $5 per hour for each year of the six-year contract.


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[ExquisiteGerbil]

Longshoremen Pause Strike Until January 15, Throw Kamala Harris a Lifeline

Paul Bois
3 Oct 2024

The dockworkers’ strike that could have severely hurt the American economy and the supply chain weeks before an election has been paused until January 15, diverting what could have been a political catastrophe for Vice President Kamala Harris.



“The union that represents tens of thousands of East Coast dockworkers and the shipping industry reached a tentative agreement on wages and are extending an expired contract through Jan. 15, 2025,” announced Politico on Thursday.



The union said on Facebook that “effective immediately, all current job actions will cease and all work covered by the Master Contract will resume.”



The threat of a strike could have severely hurt the American supply chain, which would have dramatically affected the economy going into the November presidential election between former President Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Upon news that the strike would be going forward earlier this week, Americans began to panic-buy essential goods.



“I don’t know how bad it’s going to get, but the south east just got smacked by a hurricane and now the supply chain is going to be impacted through this strike … I would rather be overprepared than scared,” a woman in Fort Worth, Texas, said in a social media post this week.



As Breitbart News reported, port congestion had already been building as the threat of a strike loomed large over the nation.


“Growing lines of container ships continued to form outside major U.S. ports on Thursday as the biggest dockworker strike in nearly 50 years entered its third day,” it reported. “The choke points are threatening shortages of everything from bananas to auto parts and are anticipated to grow in coming days if no resolution is forthcoming.”



“Some 45 container vessels that have been unable to unload had dropped anchor outside the strike-stricken East Coast and Gulf Coast ports by Wednesday, up from just three before the strike began on Sunday, according to Everstream Analytics,” it added.



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