Keep Mobilizing For A Strong Contract!
After three days on strike, the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) announced it was offering 45,000 International Longshoremen of America (ILA) dockworkers 62% raises over six years after their historic strike that shut down 36 ports along the East coast. Though shy of the union’s demand of 80% raises, it is much higher than the USMX’s original 40% offer. The strike cost US corporations $5 billion a day. It shows how effective a well-organized strike can be when the flow of profits to the bosses is disrupted. This serves as inspiration for workers everywhere.
However, a full tentative agreement was not secured – only a deal on wages – so more is yet to be won.
Reports claim Biden was deeply involved in hammering out a deal. As Election Day approaches and polls show Harris and Trump neck in neck in key swing states, Biden and the Democrats did not want to publicly break the strike like they did with rail workers in 2022. Scandalized after joking with Elon Musk about firing striking workers, Trump also issued a vague statement of support, but that shouldn’t fool us. No corporate politician – Biden, Harris, Trump, and otherwise – can be counted on to really fight for workers’ interests.
The ILA has not endorsed anyone for President, like the Teamsters. While this is better than blindly endorsing corporate Democrats like most union leaders, it doesn’t point a strategic way forward for working people (and dockworkers). Instead, unions should be running independent candidates who don’t take donations from corporations and fight unapologetically on the side of workers. Socialist Alternative has endorsed pro-labor, anti-war candidate Jill Stein for president.
Automation Still A Major Question
Forcing the shipping companies to offer 62% raises is an inspiring victory. Unfortunately, however, the key question of automation was not settled yesterday. If the ILA stayed out on strike while they had peak leverage ahead of the presidential election and the holiday season, a lot more could have been won.
The strike was called off by the union leadership, without any say by the 45,000 dockworkers themselves, whom the contract is actually for. It is important in all strikes, no matter the industry, that pickets are never lifted until a tentative agreement is actually voted on. If a tentative agreement is voted down, it’s much harder to restart a strike than it is to keep going after a “no” vote.
The bosses will now fight extremely hard to expand automation and cut the workforce. They know that high raises are meaningless if they can cut jobs, because robots don’t earn wages.
The same political leverage that came from striking weeks before the election and holiday season won’t exist in January, and if the ILA goes out on strike then over automation, they can expect to face increased overt opposition from the entire political establishment, unrestrained by their need to fare well in the polls. Already corporate lobbyists were colluding behind the scenes with Republicans and Democrats to invoke Taft-Hartley legislation to break the strike, so it will only get worse in January.
Massive shipping corporations claim automation is about safety, but that’s a lie. It’s about maximizing profits by cutting jobs. As long as the ports remain in the hands of massive corporations, automation will be a threat. ILA should raise demands like shortening the work week without loss of jobs or pay, like the United Auto Workers did last summer.
Demands like shorter work weeks without loss of pay are essential at building bridges to the wider working class, who will need to be mobilized to support a potential strike in January. The International Longshoremen Workers Union (ILWU) on the West Coast should go on solidarity strike to show corporations that can’t simply reroute materials around another ILA strike in January. Other unions like the Teamsters can refuse to transport scab goods.
Strategy Needed To Win A Full, Fair Contract!
Now that the strike has been called off, urgent discussions across the entire ILA membership on strategy and the way forward are needed. What is the plan to force more concessions from USMX before the contract extension expires on January 15? A good start would be contract rallies in the coming weeks at every port across the East and Gulf coast. A more powerful step would be randomly placed one-day strikes over the next three months to make sure the shipping bosses don’t forget what dockworkers are capable of doing to their profits.
Inflation has eaten into every worker’s paychecks and the deskilling of work is a constant threat to many jobs, not just dockworkers. Socialist Alternative will be there every step of the way to support ILA in their struggle for a fair contract, including real job protection, against the international shipping corporations. Solidarity to ILA!
