I am just a lab person.
And I work along the coast.
To chase away hungry wolves
At the door of a poor dock worker’s house.
I work hard all day in the scorching sun.
On ships coming from the sea
From early morning to late night
For the poor man’s family.
Then they pay us well.
everyday
Because that’s all we want from you.
Our cause is right
And we’re on strike
For the poor man’s family.
longshoreman’s attack, Edward Harrigan (1875)
3 day strike
Longshore workers on the East and Gulf Coasts went on strike Tuesday. This is the first major work stoppage by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) since 1977. It halted roughly half of U.S. maritime shipping revenue and affected 36 ports from Maine to Texas.
We have it all: bananas, socks, cars, alcohol, electronics, Christmas gifts and more. These disruptions are costing the economy billions of dollars a day, disrupting supply chains and driving up consumer prices.
However, a tentative agreement was reached three days later. The strike quickly ended late Thursday. Employees who left work on Tuesday agreed to return. Now they have a three-day backlog to deal with.
The ILA union, which represents 45,000 longshoremen, was negotiating a new six-year contract with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) employer group. The current contract expired at midnight on September 30th. It is now being extended until January 15, 2025, while the ILA and USMX hash out the details of the new agreement.
The core of the problem is wages. ILA wants: “Fair contract” This includes a 77% wage increase. USMX proposed a 50% wage increase. The ILA initially told them to pound sand. And after three days of strike, USMX proposed a 62% wage increase. This was enough for the ILA to call off the strike and for workers to return to their posts.
Another area of debate was around automation. USMX wants to modernize the docks. The ILA sees this as a threat to jobs. Dock worker Daniel May offered the following suggestion: analyze:
“Automation in our country’s ports should be everyone’s concern. In fact, robots don’t pay taxes and don’t spend money on the community. “The ILA will continue to fight until our members receive the contract they deserve.”
Details about how the interim agreement will address automation are unclear. But we assume the ILA will get its way and automation will be banned entirely.
loss of purchasing power
Mr. May is right. Robots don’t pay taxes or spend money. But he is missing the point. More efficient port operations will result in lower prices for imported consumer goods.
Automation will reduce the number of dock worker jobs, but it will benefit everyone else. Certainly, prices have skyrocketed over the past four years, so it would be nice for the consumer (i.e. you) to save some money.
Of course, the ILA looks out for the best interests of its members. Not your everyday consumer. Wage earners, including dockworkers, have seen the purchasing power of their income fall significantly over the past four years.
In fact, consumer prices have risen 22% since March 2020, according to the government’s own CPI report. In fact, the prices of many goods have more than doubled. Have you bought onions recently?
The loss of purchasing power is a direct result of all the money printing and deficit spending brought about by the U.S. Treasury in cooperation with the Federal Reserve. But the real culprit is Congress’ refusal to rein in spending. Port workers on the East Coast and the Gulf Coast ask for more To offset the weaker dollars they are paid:
“Pay for dockworkers is based on years of experience. Under ILA’s previous contract with USMX, which expires Monday, the starting wage for longshoremen was $20 an hour. This increases to $24.75 per hour after two years of service, $31.90 per hour after three years, and peaks at $39 per hour for workers with at least six years of service.
“The union [was] Ask for a 77% raise over six years, or $5 per hour per year for the life of the contract. Under the union’s proposal, workers would earn $44 in the first year of their contract, $49 in the second year and up to $69 in the final year.”
Under the tentative agreement, the base hourly rate for ILA dockworkers would increase from $39 per hour to $63 over six years.
As far as strikes go, this one was over before it started. However, some ILA strikes have been long and violent.
bloody thursday
In 1934, when Harry Bridges and the ILA closed West Coast ports from Seattle to San Diego, the strike lasted 83 days. At the time, dockworkers wanted wages of $1 per hour, six hours a day, and 30 hours a week. It was a time when a dollar was still worth a dollar. It wasn’t as much as it was just a year ago.
The Roosevelt administration attempted several times to break off negotiations to end the strike. The ILA rejected the proposal.
After the peaceful day of July 4, 1934, the situation worsened. bloody thursday July 5th. San Francisco police charged 2,000 strikers who were picketing at Pier 38. They drove them back after several hours of fighting.
Fighting resumed in the afternoon as police attempted to disperse 5,000 strikers on Rincon Hill. The police fired tear gas and swung batons. The attackers threw bricks.
The violence extended outside the ILA kitchen. According to witnesses, strikers surrounded a police car and attempted to overturn it. Police responded by firing shotguns into the sky and revolvers into the crowd.
Three men at the intersection of Stewart Street and Mission Street near the Embarcadero blocked the bullets with their bodies. Howard Sperry, a prominent longshoreman, and Nick Bordoise, a volunteer cook at the ILA restaurant, were both killed. Charles Olsen was also shot but survived to talk about it.
The strike ended on July 31. ILA members voted to accept mediation to end the strike, despite strong opposition from Bridges. Bridges, a Communist, remained in union leadership for the next 45 years.
He was immortalized in a public university statute, and parks and squares in port cities along the west coast were named after him.
The Ghost of Harry Bridges
It is no coincidence that the first ILA strike since 1977 is taking place now. The 1970s, like the 2020s, was a decade of rampant consumer price inflation. Wage earners have seen the purchasing power of their take-home pay cut in half.
Likewise, the 1934 ILA strike led Roosevelt to confiscate gold from American citizens and lower the value of the dollar. 59%.
Given the current trajectory of deficit spending, which promotes consumption rates well above production rates, consumer prices will continue to rise in the future. If ILA President Daggett’s goal is to keep wages above inflation, the interim agreement for a 62% pay rise over six years is not enough.
At the same time, these wage increases will create inflation problems. Raising wages and banning automation will increase port operating costs. This will inflate the prices of imported consumer goods. The same goes for tariffs and other protectionist measures.
Consumer price inflation will not stop until large deficits stop. But instead of controlling spending, Congress is relying on the Fed’s money games to keep the debt flowing.
Financial repression is being implemented through interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, making it easier for Washington to raise debt. By artificially suppressing interest rates, government debt burdens can be reduced over time through inflation. In turn, this robs savers and wage earners through inflationary taxes.
This is essentially why it doesn’t seem to work for low- and middle-income families in America these days. Working harder and working more hours still reduces your standard of living.
ILA workers making $20 an hour know this firsthand. They just misunderstand who they should direct their anger at. Maybe USMX isn’t actually a bad guy.
Nonetheless, the ghost of Harry Bridges returned to American shores this week. The docks became quiet. No ships came in. And in just three days, the ILA got most of what it wanted.
In return, consumers will be compensated with higher prices.
[Editor’s note: Have you ever heard of Henry Ford’s dream city of the South? Chances are you haven’t. That’s why I’ve recently published an important special report called, “Utility Payment Wealth – Profit from Henry Ford’s Dream City Business Model.” If discovering how this little-known aspect of American history can make you rich is of interest to you, then I encourage you to pick up a copy. It will cost you less than a penny.]
thank you,
minnesota gordon
for economic prism
From the ghost of Harry Bridges to the economic prism
