Huge Strike of 45,000 Dockworkers Hits US East Coast Ports

At midnight, around 45,000 dockworkers at 36 ports from Maine to Texas launched the largest industrial strike seen at global ports this century. Despite a last-minute proposal from employers offering nearly a 50% wage hike, the strike proceeded, with the White House confirming it will not intervene. 

As a result, vessel backlogs are already forming at several U.S. ports, an issue further intensified by a concurrent strike at Montreal, Canada's largest eastern port.

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) voiced their stance, stating, “ILA longshore workers deserve to be compensated for the important work they do keeping American commerce moving and growing. It’s disgraceful that most of these foreign-owned shipping companies are engaged in a ‘Make and Take’ operation: They want to make their billion-dollar profits at United States ports, and off the backs of American ILA longshore workers, and take those earnings out of this country and into the pockets of foreign conglomerates.”

ILA president Harold Daggett took to Facebook to share his frustrations: “Yes, I am fighting for us every fucking day, these greedy bastard corporations overseas all they want is money, money, money, and they don’t give a shit about us.”