The union of dockers from fourteen major ports on the East Coast of the United States, who began walking out early on Tuesday, October 1, after the failure of last-minute negotiations, said it was ready to “ fight as long as necessary “.
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“ We are ready to fight as long as necessary, to stay on strike as long as it takes, to obtain the salaries and social protections that our members deserve. “, warned the boss of the ILA union, Harold Daggett, in a press release. Dockworkers began walking out early Tuesday after last-minute negotiations between their union and the Maritime Alliance failed.
The strike at the Port of Virginia, one of the affected facilities, “ started at 00:01 » Tuesday, October 1, the port said on its website, adding that discussions between the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents employers, and the ILA union “ are at an impasse “.
Monday evening, the two parties announced that they had resumed their negotiations which, which began in May, stumbled over wages and automation. “ Over the past 24 hours, the USMX and ILA have exchanged counter-offers over wages “, indicated the Maritime Alliance in a press release Monday evening, specifying that it had ” improved » his proposal and requested an extension of the social agreement to continue negotiating. According to a source close to the discussions, the proposal detailed by the Alliance corresponds to that rejected Monday morning by the union.
85,000 members for the dockers’ union
The ILA union planned to strike as soon as the six-year labor agreement expired at 11:59 p.m. Monday (3:59 a.m. UT Tuesday) at ports on the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico. Asked by AFP, the Alliance and the union did not react immediately. The USMX represents employers in 36 ports scattered along the coasts from Maine in the northeast to Texas in the south on the Gulf of Mexico to Florida in the southeast. .
Opposite, the dockers’ union has 85,000 members UNITED STATES (ports, rivers, lakes). The expiring social contract concerns 25,000 members, working in the container and rolling vehicle loading terminals of fourteen major ports: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Savannah, Miami, Tampa and even Houston.
The union had warned on Sunday that all its members were going to hold strike pickets from Tuesday 12:01 a.m., “ joined in solidarity by dockers and maritime workers around the world “. The transport of hydrocarbons and agricultural products, or even cruises, should be affected only very slightly, if at all.
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