Image Credit: AFP via Getty Images
The 2024 port strike began at midnight on Tuesday, October 1, as dockworkers from the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) raised concerns over wages and automation. Now, an update has been revealed by both the ILA and the United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd. (USMX). So, is the port strike over?
After the revolutionary strike commenced, ILA president Harold Daggett claimed that USMX “brought on this strike when they decided to hold firm to foreign owned ocean carriers earning billion-dollar profits at United States ports, but not compensate the American ILA longshore workers who perform the labor that brings them their wealth.”
“We are prepared to fight as long as necessary, to stay out on strike for whatever period of time it takes, to get the wages and protections against automation our ILA members deserve,” Daggett said.
USMX noted in a statement earlier this week that it was “committed to bargaining in good faith to address the ILA’s demands and USMX’s concerns.”
Find out the latest update regarding the 2024 port strike, below.
I congratulate the 50,000 port workers who went on strike against the outrageous corporate greed of the shipping industry & won an historic increase in wages.
Billionaires in the shipping industry must not be allowed to get even richer by replacing port workers with robots. pic.twitter.com/PbFdg6XwtS
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) October 4, 2024
Is the Port Strike Over?
In a joint statement shared via social media on Thursday, October 3, the ILA and the USMX suspended the strike upon reaching a “tentative” agreement.
“The International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd. have reached a tentative agreement on wages and have agreed to extend the Master Contract until January 15, 2025, to return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues,” the statement read. “Effective immediately, all current job actions will cease and all work covered by the Master Contract will resume.”
Why Did Dockworkers Go on Strike?
The strike was the ILA’s first since 1977. The impact of the event was expected to stretch across most ports from the Gulf Coast and the East Coast — specifically ports between Texas and Maine.
Dockworkers demanded higher pay for their work and a ban on the usage of certain automated equipment.
(Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
Who Is in the Charge of the Longshoremen Strike?
Harold Daggett, the president of the ILA, was at the forefront of the strike. He has been the union’s president since 2011. The 78-year-old was seen leading dockworkers on the picket lines this week. Per CNN, Daggett was heard telling his fellow ILA members, “If we have to be out here a month or two months, this world will collapse.”
The strike was projected to halt the flow of popular goods that Americans consume, including produce from grocery stores.
Daggett has supported Republican candidate Donald Trump over the years. In November 2023, Trump invited Daggett to Mar-A-Lago in Florida.
