45,000 Dockworkers Shut Down Ports From Maine to Texas Over Pay and Automation

Dockworkers from Maine to Texas have walked out on the job at all East Coast and Gulf Coast ports, launching the first strike of its kind in almost 50 years. The International Longshoremen’s Association represents some 45,000 workers at 36 ports who are demanding higher wages and guarantees that jobs won’t be automated. “This is a time of labor mobilization in this country,” says Peter Goodman, New York Times global economics correspondent, who explains President Biden is caught between union pressure to back the strike and the threat of consumer prices rising while shipping is disrupted. “We’re only weeks away from a presidential election that could very well hinge on economic sentiments and unhappiness over inflation.”

TRANSCRIPT

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AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, “War, Peace and the Presidency.” I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

In the first strike, all East Coast and Gulf Coast ports, in almost 50 years, dockworkers from Maine to Texas walked out on strike at midnight this morning. The International Longshoremen’s Association represents some 40,000 dockworkers at 36 ports who are demanding higher wages and guarantees that jobs won’t be automated.

This is Daniel Amaly, a worker who joined picket lines this morning at Port Elizabeth outside New York City after the ILA’s contract with shipping companies expired.

DANIEL AMALY: The ILA is fighting for respect, appreciation and fairness in a world in which corporations are dead set on replacing hard-working people with automation. Employers push automation under the guise of safety, but it is really about cutting labor costs to increase their already exceptionally high profits.

AMY GOODMAN: On Sunday, President Biden said he would not intervene to stop the strike, which will disrupt trade and potentially lead to high prices just weeks before the presidential election.

REPORTER: Mr. President, would you intervene in the dockworker strike if they go on strike on Tuesday?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: No.

REPORTER: Why not?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Because it’s collective bargaining. I don’t believe in Taft-Hartley.

AMY GOODMAN: For more, we’re joined by Peter Goodman — no relation — New York Times global economics correspondent. His recent piece is headlined “Beneath the Potential Strike at U.S. Ports: Tensions Over Innovation.” His new book is titled How the World Ran Out of Everything: Inside the Global Supply Chain.

Peter, welcome to Democracy Now! It’s great to have you with us. Explain what just took place at midnight. We’re talking about Maine to Texas —

PETER GOODMAN: Right.

AMY GOODMAN: — the ports are shut down.

PETER GOODMAN: Yeah, we’re talking about 36 shipping terminals at 14 different port authorities. We’re talking about ports that are the gateway for roughly half of all the imported goods reaching the United States. Contract ended at midnight, and the dockworkers walked off their jobs. They’re seeking higher wages and guarantees that they will not be replaced through automation.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Peter, in terms of the — the workers have been talking about the huge profits that the shipping companies have been making. Could you talk about that in context of their wage demands?

PETER GOODMAN: Yeah. So, for a good period after the pandemic, where we had these massive disruptions that were enormous profit opportunities for the shipping companies — you know, we read a lot of headlines that it’s chaos when we have these giant queues off of the twin ports of L.A. and Long Beach, the West Coast ports that are the gateway for about 40% of all imported goods reaching the country by container ship. And there’s this implication that this is somehow bad for the ocean carriers. But the unfunny punch line of every one of these episodes, whether it’s floating traffic jams or, more recently, restrictions on traffic moving through the Panama Canal because of drought or ships that can’t go through the Suez Canal because of strikes by Houthi rebels who are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, every single time there’s disruption, we see prices go up and profits go to record levels for the ocean carriers.

At the same time, the dockworkers, who have very dangerous jobs — they’re very physically rigorous jobs; they are highly paid, but their position is, “We’re entitled to that as compensation” — their wages have actually flatlined. They’ve stagnated compared to inflation. And so, they’re seeking what looks like a very substantial headline increase, you know, 70-plus percent, it’s been reported, though there’s a lot of — there’s not a lot of open discussion of these terms, over the next several years. And overnight, it seems like the port operators tried to bridge the distance with a package that they say would be about a 50% raise. The dockworkers say that’s not enough.

And one of the things they’re very concerned about is the push — this is a historic push; it goes back to the beginning of container shipping in the 1950s — to replace them with robots, other forms of automation. Robots don’t go on strike. They don’t have sick kids to take care of at home. They don’t need time off with their families. This really goes back to the beginning of the container industry, where time and again employers have sought to use various forms of technology to limit their vulnerability to exactly what we’ve got now, a work stoppage as dockworkers seek a greater piece of the action.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And could you talk about how the emphasis for the several decades now of worldwide capital of having just-in-time production lines of products coming in to be sold immediately, how well the American industry can withstand a long strike?

PETER GOODMAN: Well, a long strike is going to be tough, because we’ve already seen a lot of diversion of cargo from East Coast ports to West Coast ports. Congestion could quickly build up if that continues. We’ve seen a little bit of diversion to places like Mexican ports, where we’ve got road and rail connections into the U.S., and eventually on to Canada, but those ports are much smaller. They’re less efficient.

The rail system, by the way, has really been depleted by a version of just-in-time known as precision scheduled railroading, which is essentially a fancy way of saying, “Let’s fire lots of workers. Let’s stick the remaining workers with extra jobs.” They’ve diminished service. They’ve made trains longer than ever, so accidents tend to be much more dangerous. And it’s really about boosting returns for shareholders at the expense of the operational capacity of the rail system. So the idea that rail will pick up the burden is really dubious.

If this thing goes on, we’re likely to see serious congestion off the West Coast ports similar to what we saw during the pandemic. You know, container ships turned into floating warehouses. And we are likely to see product shortages and potentially inflation, if this goes on for a few weeks.

AMY GOODMAN: The president of the International Longshoremen’s Association, Harold Daggett, endorsed Biden in the 2020 election, but, more recently, accused Biden of, quote, “not fighting for us.” Last November, Daggett said he had a productive meeting with former President Trump at Mar-a-Lago. He spoke in a video released by the union last month.

HAROLD DAGGETT: We went on strike in 1977 for three months for 80 cents. Fast-forward. Back then, the companies were lucky to make — they made millions of dollars, $10 million, $5 million. Today they make billions and billions of dollars. They make — MSC is the richest shipping company in the world, made three times the money than Amazon. A lot of money, right? Billions. Well, one of the companies — and I won’t mention his name — he took himself, for Christmas bonus, $4 billion. He took it out for him and his family, $4 billion. A French company — I won’t mention their name — they gave all their employees 50 months’ salary as a Christmas gift. Now, look at that money. They have so much money, they don’t even know what to do with it.

AMY GOODMAN: A $4 billion bonus for the boss. That’s president of the International Longshoremen’s Association, Harold Daggett. Peter Goodman, can you talk about what he said —

PETER GOODMAN: Sure.

AMY GOODMAN: — and also the significance of U.S. business groups wanting Biden to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act, and Biden saying he’s not going to, and what that means?

PETER GOODMAN: Sure. It’s a very strange dynamic, because, of course, traditionally, labor, key Democratic constituency. Biden is very reluctant to wade in and end this strike, because he faced a backlash when he used a different law to shut down the railroad strike two years ago without getting paid sick leave for traveling maintenance crews and other rail workers. So he’s very reluctant to be the guy who steps in, takes away the leverage for the union. I mean, this is a time of labor mobilization in this country. And, of course, we saw that the UAW did very well with a militant strike. The ILA is doing likewise.

Here’s the irony, though. So, you’ve got all these business groups that are lobbying the Biden administration to act, because, of course, the economy writ large is going to get hit by a long strike. Factories that are dependent upon imported components and parts are going to get hit. Retailers waiting for products to come in, often from Asia, will get hit. Consumers could face shortages, inflation. Here’s the one group that probably won’t get hit: the shipping carriers.

I mean, I spoke last night to the chair of the Federal Maritime Commission, who said that this is the classic playbook, that goes back to the pandemic, where the shipping carriers cut capacity. And what happens? Prices go up. We’re talking about a cartel. This is an international cartel that’s made up of three alliances. Think like airline alliances, like your Star Alliance, your Oneworld. They’ve got 85 to 90% of the traffic on the key routes from Asia to Europe and from Asia to the West and East Coasts of the United States. So, the longer this goes on, the higher the prices go, potentially the higher the profits for the shipping carriers.

So, the one move for the union is, “Well, we’re going to monkeywrench the economy as a way to generate pressure for a settlement,” but that could actually be good for the people they’re trying to get greater leverage for. That could increase the pressure on the Biden administration, really reluctant, again, to intervene in a labor dispute, to put an end to this thing, because it will hit the real economy. And I don’t have to tell you that we’re only weeks away from a presidential election that could very well hinge on economic sentiments and unhappiness over inflation.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, we want to thank you for being with us, and we have to have you back on to talk about your new book. Peter Goodman, New York Times global economics correspondent. His most recent piece, “Beneath the Potential Strike at U.S. Ports: Tensions Over Innovation.” We’ll link to that. His new book, How the World Ran Out of Everything: Inside the Global Supply Chain.

Coming up, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has broken his silence, addressing the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France. We’ll play some of his comments. And then, it’s the last day of the presidency of Mexican President AMLO, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. We’ll talk about his legacy and also immigration. Stay with us.