Thousands of dockworkers at major ports on the East and Gulf Coasts have launched a strike, threatening to shut down trade gateways that handle roughly half of all containerized cargo entering and departing the United States.
Workers are asking for an 80% salary raise to cover inflation.
Ports are already closing due to the strike, accounting for more than 68% of all US container exports and almost 56% of container imports. Even a brief strike might cause severe disruptions in regional trade flows.
Negotiations between the dockworkers’ union (NLRB) and the US Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents terminal operators and ocean carriers, have come to a halt, with both parties releasing contradicting comments regarding their willingness to discuss.
The Maritime Alliance filed an unfair labor practice lawsuit with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), asking for an immediate injunction compelling the union to resume negotiations.
The NLRB stated that it received the unfair labor practice accusation and is reviewing it.
Meanwhile, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) characterized employers’ actions as a “publicity stunt.” Foreign companies represented by USMX are setting up shop at US ports, earning billions of dollars in revenue and profits, sending these profits out of the country, and failing to adequately compensate ILA workers at the ports, thereby engaging in true unfair labor practices, the international union said in a statement.
Senior Biden administration officials, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, and National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard, met with USMX members on Friday and urged them to negotiate before the contract expires.
A shutdown of East Coast ports may substantially disrupt cross-country freight delivery and raise associated expenses. Any increase in such prices would be passed on to consumers, potentially complicating the Federal Reserve’s efforts to manage inflation.
Oxford Economics analysts estimate that the strike will impair US economic activity by $4.5 to $7.5 billion per week. Clearing the accumulated cargo backlog during the port closures could take up to a month.
The Taft-Hartley Act permits President Biden to ask the court for an 80-day cooling-off period if the strike is considered a threat to public health or safety.
An official from the Biden administration informed the US media that the Department of Labor is closely monitoring the situation and maintaining communication with both parties. However, there are no current plans to intercede in the labor conflict.
“We have never used the Taft-Hartley Act to end a strike and are not considering doing so now,” the White House told CBS News.
The position of Biden’s team is understandable. As the presidential election approaches, Democrats are concerned about alienating one of America’s most influential unions.
The dockworkers’ strike threatens to cripple the US economy. For the first time since 1977, 25,000 port workers from 14 major US ports on the Atlantic Coast, from Massachusetts to Texas, are planning a massive walkout.
Democrats are quietly asking dockworkers to end their strike, while Trump aggressively seeks their union’s support.
Meanwhile, 33,000 workers have been on strike at Boeing factories for the past two weeks. The strike has already cost the beleaguered firm $1.4 billion.
Boeing’s market value has just fallen by two-thirds, and its debt burden is unsustainable.
The White House’s attempts to end the strike have failed. Workers continue to want a 40% salary hike.
The International Association of Machinists (IAM), which represents the striking workers, has rejected Boeing’s “best and final offer,” which includes a 30% wage rise.
While the union acknowledged the 30% salary increase as “progress,” it pointed out that over the last decade, at a period of high inflation and growing living costs, its members received just an 8% raise.
“After a decade of hard work and sacrifice to maintain Boeing’s high performance, the company’s leadership rewarded itself with record bonuses, while the workers who built these planes and helped the company survive its toughest times have struggled to make ends meet,” the union said in a statement.
At the beginning of the strike, Fitch Ratings cautioned that a prolonged halt of more than a week or two may have severe operational and financial ramifications and put the company at risk of a rating downgrade, thereby putting it on the edge of bankruptcy.
10,000 employees at 24 hotels, with locations in Boston, the West Coast, and Hawaii, went on strike on September 1. UNITE HERE, the union that represents the striking workers, stated that they are striking not only for improved working conditions, such as the reinstatement of automatic daily room cleaning, which was discontinued by many hotels during the pandemic, but also for higher pay.
“We are striking because the hotel industry has lost its way,” said Gwen Mills, president of UNITE HERE, in a Sunday morning statement. “Everyone suffered during COVID, but now the hotel industry is making record profits while workers and guests are left behind… Workers don’t make enough to support their families. Many can no longer afford to live in the cities where they host guests.”
Aissata Seck, a banquet server at the Hilton Park Plaza in Boston for 18 years, explained that her apartment rent has increased from $1,900 to $2,900 in the last five years. “My paycheck only covers rent.” She now drives for Uber to make ends meet.
Apple Ratanabunsritang, a cook at the Hilton Union Square in San Francisco, told CNN that she needs to work two jobs to survive in the city and that while pay is vital, maintaining health benefits is also critical. “Most people who work and are in the union have worked for a long time—they’ve worked 10, 20, 30 years. So their entire life is working at the hotel, and it’s physical labor, so healthcare is very important,” she explained.
The group is threatening to expand the strike to 65 hotels across 12 cities.
According to Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) School’s labor action tracker, as of September 26, 2024, there have been 249 labor actions in 361 locations around the United States.
In recent years, strike activity has increased: according to an ILR data analysis for 2022, the number of strikes climbed by 50% over 2021. From 2022 to 2023, the growth rate was just 9%, but the number of workers who ceased working climbed by 141% during that time.
NerdWallet analysts anticipate that strike action in the United States will increase more as inflation rises and the country’s debt balloons.
Four years of “Bidenomics” have pushed America to the verge of the brink.