"25,000 longshoremen decided to strike to rally for higher pay stronger guardrails, and less Automation Machines."--Lucy Dennis, 6th Grade
The Longshoreman Strike
By Lucy Dennis
The Longshoreman Strike that started on October 1 and its three day occurrence on the ports of New Jersey and New York has made many wonder: what exactly happened? What even is a longshoreman? And why did they have a strike?
The Definition of a Longshoreman
A longshoreman is someone who loads and unloads ships at a port, and in this case, ports at New Jersey and New York. The first records of longshoremen come from the early 1800s. It's based on the word longshore, which means “along the shore.” Usually these workers load and unload cargo between ships and docks. Another part of the job is operating heavy machinery like cranes, forklifts, and other machines to move cargo containers and other heavy items. When a ship arrives in port, longshoremen use large cranes and other equipment to lift the containers off the ships and place them on the dock, so they can be loaded onto trucks.
Impacted Goods
Almost half of our basic goods come through these ports, including produce and goods like apparel and toys. More importantly, parts that go into the factories all along the East Coast and shipments of finished products out from the country will be severely impacted. And the cargo ships carrying this held crates filled with car parts, loads of food, and packages of important objects. That means that if there is a strike with longshoreman workers, food would go to waste because it went bad, and people would be waiting forever to get their things.
How the Strike Started
Well, to get the main idea, about 25,000 longshoremen decided to strike to rally for higher pay and stronger guardrails.“Ports across the East and Gulf Coasts of the US will be impacted by the strike,” says reporter Peter Zeihan on Longshoremen on Strike US Ports Get Shut Down, “disrupting nearly two-thirds of the imports and exports by water.” “The contract between the ports and about 45,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association expired at midnight,” says Tom Krisher and Tassanee Vejpongsa in “Dockworkers at Ports From Maine to Texas go on Strike, a Standoff Risking New Shortages,” “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.” The union of longshoremen’s opening offer was for a 77% pay raise over the six-year life of the contract, with President Harold Daggett (president of the ILA, or the International Longshoremen’s Association) saying it’s necessary to make up for inflation and years of small raises. The actual result, after three days, was that their pay was increased by 61.5% over six years.
Protest
ILA walked out to protest on Tuesday at 14 major ports along the East and Gulf Coasts, causing traffic from Maine to Texas.“The short ILA strike will surely be ranked as one of the most lucrative 3 days in labor-management history," said Patrick L. Anderson, CEO of business consultancy Anderson Economic Group. Another thing ILA workers were protesting for, (along with better guard rails and higher pay) was banning some of the automation machines for they could “threaten the security, and break down easily.”
Increasing Pay
The ILA union wanted a 77% increase, but in the end they got a 61.5% increase over the six year life of the contract. A “six year life of the contract” means that for most written contracts, six years from the date of the breach is the maximum time period that legal action may be instituted. So, from now on in New Jersey longshoremen will get $63 an hour, when they originally got $39.
Interview With John Dennis: How Can This Strike Affect Regular People?
John Dennis, (my dad) who originally lived in New York, and is now a computer engineer at Skykick and lives in Oakland says, “ A strike happens when the union can't agree with management (in this case shippers and port operators) about the parameters of the job. The ILA leadership called for a strike when negotiations failed after a previous agreement expired and the longshoremen wanted higher salaries and guarantees about their jobs not being automated by new technologies.
“I was not personally affected by the strike. Since we live on the West Coast and only East Coast ports were affected, it would likely have taken us longer to feel any effects than people living in the East. A member of our household was expecting a package from Germany however, and it was delayed for a long time.
“ [My] friend texted me a link to the video of the president of the ILA (a man named Harold Daggett) threatening to carry out the strike.
“The strike has been temporarily suspended to give time for more negotiation. No one knows if a new agreement will be reached in time to avoid it re-starting. If it restarts, there could initially be shortages of goods coming from Europe. If it goes on long enough, there may be shortages in many other areas since the supply chains for the production of those goods would be affected. In the long term it may be a very contentious and ongoing issue since there are many people employed as dockworkers but we increasingly have technology that can automate away their jobs. Other countries have already started doing this.
The US is very dependent on international trade so a major longshoremen strike would have serious repercussions for the US economy. It is also an area that demonstrates the consequences of technology replacing human labor in critical segments of the economy.”
To sum it all up, the Longshoreman Strike happened because ILA members wanted better pay, less machines, and guardrails. In the end it lasted three days, and they got a 61.5% pay increase.
By Lucy Dennis
The Longshoreman Strike that started on October 1 and its three day occurrence on the ports of New Jersey and New York has made many wonder: what exactly happened? What even is a longshoreman? And why did they have a strike?
The Definition of a Longshoreman
A longshoreman is someone who loads and unloads ships at a port, and in this case, ports at New Jersey and New York. The first records of longshoremen come from the early 1800s. It's based on the word longshore, which means “along the shore.” Usually these workers load and unload cargo between ships and docks. Another part of the job is operating heavy machinery like cranes, forklifts, and other machines to move cargo containers and other heavy items. When a ship arrives in port, longshoremen use large cranes and other equipment to lift the containers off the ships and place them on the dock, so they can be loaded onto trucks.
Impacted Goods
Almost half of our basic goods come through these ports, including produce and goods like apparel and toys. More importantly, parts that go into the factories all along the East Coast and shipments of finished products out from the country will be severely impacted. And the cargo ships carrying this held crates filled with car parts, loads of food, and packages of important objects. That means that if there is a strike with longshoreman workers, food would go to waste because it went bad, and people would be waiting forever to get their things.
How the Strike Started
Well, to get the main idea, about 25,000 longshoremen decided to strike to rally for higher pay and stronger guardrails.“Ports across the East and Gulf Coasts of the US will be impacted by the strike,” says reporter Peter Zeihan on Longshoremen on Strike US Ports Get Shut Down, “disrupting nearly two-thirds of the imports and exports by water.” “The contract between the ports and about 45,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association expired at midnight,” says Tom Krisher and Tassanee Vejpongsa in “Dockworkers at Ports From Maine to Texas go on Strike, a Standoff Risking New Shortages,” “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.” The union of longshoremen’s opening offer was for a 77% pay raise over the six-year life of the contract, with President Harold Daggett (president of the ILA, or the International Longshoremen’s Association) saying it’s necessary to make up for inflation and years of small raises. The actual result, after three days, was that their pay was increased by 61.5% over six years.
Protest
ILA walked out to protest on Tuesday at 14 major ports along the East and Gulf Coasts, causing traffic from Maine to Texas.“The short ILA strike will surely be ranked as one of the most lucrative 3 days in labor-management history," said Patrick L. Anderson, CEO of business consultancy Anderson Economic Group. Another thing ILA workers were protesting for, (along with better guard rails and higher pay) was banning some of the automation machines for they could “threaten the security, and break down easily.”
Increasing Pay
The ILA union wanted a 77% increase, but in the end they got a 61.5% increase over the six year life of the contract. A “six year life of the contract” means that for most written contracts, six years from the date of the breach is the maximum time period that legal action may be instituted. So, from now on in New Jersey longshoremen will get $63 an hour, when they originally got $39.
Interview With John Dennis: How Can This Strike Affect Regular People?
John Dennis, (my dad) who originally lived in New York, and is now a computer engineer at Skykick and lives in Oakland says, “ A strike happens when the union can't agree with management (in this case shippers and port operators) about the parameters of the job. The ILA leadership called for a strike when negotiations failed after a previous agreement expired and the longshoremen wanted higher salaries and guarantees about their jobs not being automated by new technologies.
“I was not personally affected by the strike. Since we live on the West Coast and only East Coast ports were affected, it would likely have taken us longer to feel any effects than people living in the East. A member of our household was expecting a package from Germany however, and it was delayed for a long time.
“ [My] friend texted me a link to the video of the president of the ILA (a man named Harold Daggett) threatening to carry out the strike.
“The strike has been temporarily suspended to give time for more negotiation. No one knows if a new agreement will be reached in time to avoid it re-starting. If it restarts, there could initially be shortages of goods coming from Europe. If it goes on long enough, there may be shortages in many other areas since the supply chains for the production of those goods would be affected. In the long term it may be a very contentious and ongoing issue since there are many people employed as dockworkers but we increasingly have technology that can automate away their jobs. Other countries have already started doing this.
The US is very dependent on international trade so a major longshoremen strike would have serious repercussions for the US economy. It is also an area that demonstrates the consequences of technology replacing human labor in critical segments of the economy.”
To sum it all up, the Longshoreman Strike happened because ILA members wanted better pay, less machines, and guardrails. In the end it lasted three days, and they got a 61.5% pay increase.
Harold Dagget, President of ILA
Protesters
