The Longshoremen’s Association has officially gone on strike, meaning over 45,000 members of their union will no longer be working to keep America’s ports flowing with trade. The union is asking for a 77 percent pay increase, in part to compensate them for working during Covid-19 shutdowns, but they’re only being offered a 58 percent pay increase. They also hope to have guarantees to protect them from automation.
In a viral video, the Union President, Harold Dagget, threatened to shut everything down, to “cripple” America if they don’t meet the union demands. The White House has been limited in its response to the strike, with one White House official only saying they were “in talks” with the opposing parties. The last time the union struck was in 1977.
10-07-2024
AMERICA’S DRUGS ABOUT TO BECOME SCARCE IF LONGSHOREMAN’S STRIKE CONTINUES – Thanks to the collusion between “American’ elites with foreign interests, especially China, America’s pharmaceutical institutions have become solely dependent on countries like China that want to destroy our republic. With the Ports shutting down in America thanks to what appears to be a far-left and grifter motivated strike by longshoremen, Americans that need drugs to stay alive may soon be dying after the current supply runs out.
Dr. Pat Basu, managing partner at Varsity Healthcare Partners sounded the alarm on FOX Business, claiming “Patients’ access to critical medications may be threatened in the event of prolonged strikes at ports along the East and Gulf coasts, medical professionals are warning. While manufacturers and wholesale distributors may carry a month or more of certain drugs, as you get closer to the point of patient contact, namely providers and retail pharmacies, they carry a much more limited supply, potentially five to seven days in many cases.”
DESANTIS CALLS UP NATIONAL GUARD TO KEEP FLORIDA PORTS OPEN – After the longshoreman’s strike, Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is moving to assure the ports in Florida stay open, calling up the national guard to step in to keep essential operations flowing. DeSantis said, “At my direction the Florida National Guard and the Florida State Guard will be deployed to critical ports affected to maintain order, and if possible, resume operations that would otherwise be shut down during this interruption.”
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Below are more links and blurbs as this story unfolds.
US port strike: Over 45,000 dockworkers from Maine to Texas hit picket lines– apnews.com
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Excerpt:
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas began walking picket lines early Tuesday in a strike over wages and automation that could reignite inflation and cause shortages of goods if it goes on more than a few weeks.
The contract between the ports and about 45,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association 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.”
At Port Houston, which is in the Central time zone an hour behind the East Coast, at least 50 workers gathered outside the port with signs saying “No Work Without a Fair Contract.” They appeared poised to begin picketing. Workers showed a statement from the ILA on the strike saying that employers have refused to compensate workers fairly.
“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,” the statement said. “Robots do not pay taxes and they do not spend money in their communities.”
10-02-24
UNION PRESIDENT
As Dockworkers Go on Strike, Union Negotiator Boldly Threatens to ‘Cripple’ the US Economy – RedState– redstate.com
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Excerpt:
In a scene straight out of The Sopranos, video has emerged of Harold Daggett, the chief negotiator for the International Longshoreman’s Association, threatening to “cripple” the U.S. economy.
RedState has been reporting that a strike was looming, and the dockworkers made good on their threats by walking off the job at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday. The union foresaw a time in the not-so-distant future when robotics and AI would take over their profession, so they decided to double down and demand a significant increase in wages.
The ILA is reportedly asking for raises of $5 an hour, per year, which would be an immediate 12.8% pay hike on the current top pay of $39 an hour. Repeating that $5 an hour increase each year would result in raises totaling 77% during the life of the contract.
The union is also seeking a total ban on the use of automation in their industry.
In the video that’s taking the internet by storm now that the strike has begun, the Queens-born Daggett, sporting a gold chain around his neck, lays out in minute detail what will happen to the U.S. economy if the strike is allowed to linger.
When my men hit the streets from Maine to Texas, every single port locked down.
You know what’s going to happen?
I’ll tell you.
First week, be all over the news every night, boom, boom, second week.
Guys who sell cars can’t sell cars, because the cars ain’t coming in off the ships.
They get laid off.
Third week, malls are closing down.
They can’t get the goods from China.
They can’t sell clothes.
They can’t do this.
Everything in the United States comes on a ship.
They go out of business.
Construction workers get laid off because the materials aren’t coming in.
The steel’s not coming in.
The lumber’s not coming in.
They lose their job.
Everybody’s hating the longshoremen now because now they realize how important our jobs are.
He’s not wrong, and he certainly doesn’t hold back when summarizing the lengths to which they will take the strike: “I will cripple you, and you have no idea what that means. Nobody does.”