#international longshoreman’s association

[lucythornwalter]

Port Strike 2024

Right on the heels of Helene we get a massive strike called by the International Longshoreman’s Association, which went into effect today and impacts ports on the east coast and in Texas. The ILA has not yet released their demands, but in their most recent statement from yesterday they highlighted the unfair nature of American shipping and the ways workers are fucked over for company profit. Same old same old.

What You Need To Know:

approximately 45,000 workers are on strike in US ports from Maine to Texas

immediate supply chain gaps will show up in things like imported produce - if you like bananas, stock up now, and freeze them or refrigerate them to maximize their usable lifespan

as of now we don’t know how we can support the strike, but check official ILA channels and accounts and their website linked above for updates

there will be a lot of bad press about this strike. I’ve already seen an article from Barron’s about how dockworkers make six figures but are demanding more. our enemies are NOT working people who make slightly more than we do! our enemies are the shipping companies and freight brokerages who make billions in profit while the ones who transport the goods make less than $1M/year! be prepared to advocate for workers who may be doing better than you’re personally doing - they don’t deserve less, YOU deserve more.

more on the strike from the Associated Press

UPDATE as of 12:00 EST 1 October 2024:

the ILA is asking for a 77% wage increase across the next 6 years and an end to all automation. the counteroffer that was rejected was a 50% increase and limits on automation.

will continue to update as new information emerges

[justbeingnamaste]

The White House has remained firm in its position that it will not intervene in negotiations between port workers and dock employers as trade flows screech to a halt and the lead union boss threatens to "cripple" the economy less than 35 days before the presidential election.

A general strike spread across most of the major ports on the U.S. East Coast Tuesday as the labor union representing the workers, International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), said dock employers failed to give in to their demands. 

The strike threatens to plug up an estimated $2.1 billion in daily trade flows from these busy ports as the presidential election and holiday seasons fast approach. 

Republicans and hundreds of industry associations have called on President Joe Biden to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act, a law originally passed in 1947 that gives the president the authority to intervene in strikes if they threaten to cause a national emergency. The act was last used in 2002 by President George W. Bush to reopen ports on the West Coast after employers prevented longshoreman from entering their facilities. 

But before the strike began Tuesday, Biden signaled he would not invoke the post-war act to end the strike, especially given the immense damage from Hurricane Helene across the U.S. Southeast and persistent inflation as the holiday season approaches. 

“Mr. President, will you intervene in the dockworkers strike if they go on strike on Tuesday?” a reporter asked the president. 

“No,” Biden replied. 

“Why not?” 

“Because there’s collective bargaining, and I don’t believe in Taft-Hartley,” Biden said. 

The White House on Tuesday again confirmed the president would not use the authority under the act to intervene in the negotiations even as the union appeared to dig in its heels for the long haul. The White House indicated its calculus stems from briefings by federal agencies on the potential impacts of the strike which “are expected to be limited at this time” on consumers. 

Biden is also motivated by political calculus with the presidential election just more than a month away. Breaking up the strike with his presidential authority could damage Kamala Harris’ chances with a key union worker constituency, among which previous polls show she has struggled to maintain Biden’s levels of support. Leaving the strike unaddressed could cripple the U.S. economy—in the union boss’s own words—under his watch. Historically, a downturn in the economy rarely favors the incumbent party, which in this case would hurt Harris’ election chances. 

[mariacallous]

i don't think that daggett being in the bag for trump is necessarily a fair accusation to make. i get why people are concerned about it, because they did meet last year and apparently daggett asked his members to pray for trump after the july assassination attempt, but the ILA endorsed biden in 2020 and has praised the admin on labor.

'Harold Daggett, president of the International Longshoreman’s Association, praised the Biden administration’s efforts, in particular acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su, whom he called “terrific.” “She’s knocking down doors. She’s trying to stop this. She’s trying to get us … fair negotiations,” Daggett said. “It’s the companies that don’t want to sit here and be fair. So that’s why we’re out here fighting for our livelihood.”'

https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/01/politics/white-house-longshore-strike?cid=ios_app

Here’s hoping.

[mongowheelie]

'Causing heads to explode': Alarms sound as pro-Trump union leader accused of 'sabotage'

Source: Raw Story

'Causing heads to explode': Alarms sound as pro-Trump union leader accused of 'sabotage'

Source: Raw Story

[nawapon17]

ILA UNION ON STRIKE IN 36 US PORTS - Teamsters Warn Biden To 'Stay the F*ck Out of This Fight'

[graymanbriefing]

How long will the strike last? Field Notes - Supply Chain / Labor Force: International Longshoreman’s Association (ILA) union workers have begun striking at 36 port facilities across the U.S. as nearly half (43-49%) of all shipments coming in and out of the U.S. shutdown; each day of strikes results in a $4.5 billion economic loss and requires 6 days to recover from; expect supply chain disruptions across all industries if strikes persis...(CLASSIFIED, get briefs in real-time unredacted by joining at www.graymanbriefing.com)

[lboogie1906]

Congressman Lucien Edward Blackwell (August 1, 1931 – January 24, 2003) was a boxer, longshoreman, and politician. He served as a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1973-75) Philadelphia City Council (1975-91) and the House of Representatives (1991-95).

He was born in Whitsett, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. After attending West Philadelphia High School, he took a job as a dockworker and pursued a career as a boxer. In 1953, he was drafted into the Army and served in the Korean War. He was a boxing champion during his years in the Army. He returned to the docks as a longshoreman. He became the president of the International Longshoremen’s Association, Local 1332.

“Lucien the Solution” was known as a vibrant member of the Philadelphia City Council from 1975 to 1991. While serving on the Council, he served several terms as Chairman of the Finance Committee, where he led the charge to divest pension funds from businesses doing business in South Africa. He sponsored Philadelphia’s first law to create opportunities for minorities and women to compete to obtain city contracts. He was involved in legislation to create the Pennsylvania Convention Center and in passing the law that broke Philadelphia’s long-standing building height limit, allowing for the construction of Philadelphia’s One Liberty Place. He was known for his fiery oratory on the Council floor and for serving as a mentor to the former Philadelphia Mayor (and Council President) John Street. During his City Council tenure, he was an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of Philadelphia in both 1979 and 1991.

He was elected as a Democrat to the One Hundred Second Congress by special election to fill the vacancy and reelected to the succeeding Congress. He was a member of the US House Committee on the Budget and a reliable advocate for President Bill Clinton’s economic policies.

He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination to the One Hundred Fourth Congress in 1994 and served as a lobbyist following his tenure in Congress. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[just2bruce]

ILA stops negotiations with USMX

The labor deal between US East and Gulf Coast ports and the International Longshoreman’s Association (ILA) may be unraveling. The current agreement expires at the end of September. It was a six-year deal. The major issue at present is an Auto Gate system Maersk and APM Terminals are using that processes trucks autonomously, with no ILA labor. The union claims this directly contradicts what was…

[rmsqueenmaryonthisday]

Divine Intervention

From the Evening Independent, St. Petersburg, Florida, on this day in 1938: “St. Christopher should be made to join the union.” -Joseph P. Ryan, president of the International Longshoreman’s association in commenting on the docking of the Queen Mary without tugboats after her captain had looked at his St. Christopher’s medal.

[yasbxxgie]

Jerry Lawson, a self-taught engineer, gave us video game cartridges

If you've got fond memories of blowing into video game cartridges, you've got Gerald "Jerry" Lawson to thank. As the head of engineering and marketing for Fairchild Semiconductor's gaming outfit in the mid-'70s, Lawson developed the first home gaming console that utilized interchangeable cartridges, the Fairchild Channel F. That system never saw the heights of popularity of consoles from Atari, Nintendo and Sega, but it was a significant step forward for the entire gaming industry. Prior to the Channel F, games like Pong were built directly into their hardware -- there was no swapping them out to play something else -- and few believed that you could even give a console a microprocessor of its own. Lawson, who passed away at 70 from diabetes complications in 2011, was the first major African-American figure in the game industry. And, just like the tech world today, it still isn't as diverse as it should be.

Only 2 percent of game developers in 2005 were African-American, according to a study by the International Game Developer Association (who also honored Lawson as a game pioneer a month before his death). But things were even worse during Lawson's time: For his first five years at Fairchild, the company and its executives actually thought he was Indian. He was also one of two black members of the Homebrew Computing Club, a group that famously included Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and other Silicon Valley pioneers.

Born on December 1, 1940, Lawson grew up in a Queens, New York, housing project, where his predilection for engineering was on display early on. His father, a longshoreman with a fondness for science, gave him unique gifts like an Irish mail, a handcar typically used by railroad workers. More often than not, Lawson ended up being the only kid that knew how to use them. His mother arranged it so that he could attend a well-regarded elementary school in another part of the city (i.e., one that was predominantly white), and she stayed actively involved in his education throughout his childhood (so much so that she became the president of the PTA). Lawson also credits his first grade teacher as a major inspiration.

"I had a picture of George Washington Carver [a black inventor who was born into slavery] on the wall next to my desk," he told Vintage Computing in an interview. "And she said, 'This could be you.' I mean, I can still remember that picture, still remember where it was."

It's hard to deny Lawson's geek cred: He ran an amateur radio station out of his housing project after building a ham radio on his own (complete with an antenna hanging out of his window and a radio license). He also spent his teenage years repairing electronics all over the city. Most impressively, he taught himself most of what he knew about engineering. Lawson attended Queens College and the City College of New York before working at several firms, including Grumman Electric and Federal Aircraft. After scoring a job with Kaiser Electronics, which focused on military technology, Lawson moved to Silicon Valley.

It's hard to fathom today, but trying to make removable game cartridges was an incredibly new concept in the '70s. Lawson and his team at Fairchild had no clue how the cartridges would fare after being plugged in and out multiple times -- remember, nobody had ever done it before. The company also caught the attention of the FCC, as it was aiming to deliver the first consumer device with its own microprocessor. Lawson's description of meeting the agency's grueling requirements reads like engineering comedy: Fairchild had to encase the console's motherboard in aluminum; it put a metal chute over the cartridge adapter to keep in radiation; and every cartridge it produced had to be approved by the FCC. He was also justifiably apoplectic when, years later, Texas Instruments successfully lobbied to change the laws that determined the FCC's harsh requirements.

As for how race affected his job prospects during the '60s and '70s, Lawson told Vintage Computing it "could be both a plus and a minus." If he did well, it seemed as if he did twice as well, since any accomplishment received instant notoriety. But the idea of a 6-foot-6-inch black man working as an engineer was still surprising to many people. Lawson noted that some people reacted with "total shock" when they saw him for the first time.

Lawson also had plenty of insightful advice for young black men and women who were interested in science and engineering careers:

First of all, get them to consider it [technical careers] in the first place. That's key. Even considering the thing. They need to understand that they're in a land by themselves. Don't look for your buddies to be helpful, because they won't be. You've gotta step away from the crowd and go do your own thing. You find a ground; cover it; it's brand-new; you're on your own -- you're an explorer. That's about what it's going to be like. Explore new vistas, new avenues, new ways -- not relying on everyone else's way to tell you which way to go, and how to go, and what you should be doing."

The whole reason I did games was because people said, 'You can't do it,'" Lawson told the San Jose Mercury News in an interview. "I'm one of the guys, if you tell me I can't do something, I'll turn around and do it."

[h/t]

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Light armoured vehicles destined for Saudi Arabia were loaded onto a cargo ship in Saint John on Sunday, a day after longshoremen refused to cross a protest line.

In the rain and fog, protesters gathered near the port entrance at 7 a.m. on Saturday. More than a dozen protesters held signs and passed out pamphlets detailing concerns about the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. They had hoped to prevent the shipment.

Holding placards and illuminated only by the port’s flood lights, they marched back and forth as the longshoreman parked their cars and waited before leaving two hours later, forfeiting their day’s wages.

A day later, however, the LAVs were loaded onto the Bahri Yanbu and the ship left the port. Pat Riley, spokesman for the International Longshoremen’s Association Branch 273, said he was trying to confirm the work was done by the union but didn’t respond before deadline.

Continue Reading.

[gaetanosdenver]

#HappyDannyDay The film chronicles the rise and fall of Danny Greene. He worked as a longshoreman on the Cleveland docks, until being chosen to serve as interim president of the International Longshoremen's Association in 1961. In 1964, he was convicted of embezzling $11,500 of the union's funds. After his conviction, Greene rose through the criminal underworld in Cleveland and waged war on the Mafia for control of the city. After many failed attempts on Greene's life, he was assassinated on October 6, 1977, by contract killer Ray Ferritto. Greene's death ultimately led to the demise of the Cleveland Mafia. https://www.instagram.com/p/Chpot0vrD02/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[atlanticcanada]

Return of Saint John rail link expected to lead to jobs

The return of a rail link in Saint John is expected to increase container business and lead to more jobs at the port. 

There are many days when Saint John’s west side container terminal is already busy. But now, the terminal and the port are being promoted by a big player in the transportation business.

CP Rail is marketing Saint John as their ‘East Coast advantage’, allowing them to provide service from coast-to-coast, and beyond.

In a statement, CP President Keith Creel says: “CP has been without access to a deep-water Atlantic Ocean port for a quarter century, and today I’m pleased to deliver a simple message. We’re back.”

The return is connected to CP Rail’s recent purchase of a section of rail line in Maine that the company last used in the mid-1990’s.

The CP line through Maine links with Southern New Brunswick railway to connect with the port.

That connection rings Saint John 200 miles closer to Montreal.

“We’re closer to those major market places, and it’s a tremendous advantage when you’re out marketing this port because ship owners and cargo owners need a competitive environment in which to operate and we now have that,” says Jim Quinn, CEO of Port Saint John.

With that advantage comes an expected big spike in activity at the terminal.

“We can see on the horizon or container through the port going at least ten fold,” says Pat Riley, Union leader of the International Longshoreman’s Association Local 273.

Riley expects there to be more work on the waterfront in the months to come.

“That’s what makes us the happiest, the fact that we’re going to be able to provide good paying jobs to Saint Johners and New Brunswickers,” adds Riley.

In recent days, political leaders have been calling the new CP line a game changer.

“This will allow Saint John and New Brunswick to have international connections from around the world,” said New Brunswick premier Blaine Higgs on August 8.

CP Rail has also announced plans to spend $90-million upgrading the rail line in Northern Maine, so that it can handle the additional cargo between Saint John and Central Canada. 

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/3ajpm5L

[allakinwande]

A FORGOTTEN MAN OF PRINCIPLE: The life of Oliver Law. By: Piers Brecher __________________________________________________

A black war hero is a rare sight in American cinema. Even when one does appear, he or she is almost never in the leading role. From Jim Brown’s memorable turn in The Dirty Dozen to Cory Hardrict’s Navy Seal, ‘D’, in American Sniper, black soldiers are often relegated to the role of stoic companion or splash of diversity in an otherwise homogenous unit. Recently, George Lucas spoke of the difficulty in funding Red Tails, his 2012 movie about the all-black Tuskegee Airmen during World War II. This has always been a tragic reality of the Hollywood system, one that robbed us of what might have been one of the greatest war movies ever made.

First proposed in 1937, this movie would have covered the life of Oliver Law, the first black commander of a mixed-race US military unit. Law rose from an unremarkable beginning in West Texas to become a community organizer on Chicago’s South Side, then to a brief but heroic command in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade during the Spanish Civil War. Though little remembered now, the performance of Law’s life story attracted the talents of famed African American actor Paul Robeson, and even the screenwriting talents of Ernest Hemingway.

Born on October 23, 1900, Law left few records during his childhood and adolescence. He first became known to history when he decided to join the 24th Infantry Regiment of the still-segregated United States Army in 1919. His enlistment came at a taut time in the 24th  Regiment’s history. Only two years before, in August 1917, over one hundred of its members had mutinied in Houston, during a race riot over abusive treatment by local law enforcement. Several white civilians and policemen were killed, along with a lesser number of black soldiers. In the ensuing months, 110 of the regiment’s members were convicted of mutiny, and nineteen were executed. Against this background of discontent and tension, Oliver Law would go on to serve six uneventful years on the Mexican border with the unit before leaving the military in search of civilian work. It was 1925, and difficult times lay ahead for both Law and the country.

After a few unhappy years working at a cement factory in Indiana, Law found himself in Chicago in search of lasting employment. Just as he seemed to have found a source of steady money, as a driver with the Yellow Cab Company, the Great Depression hit. Extended periods of unemployment were interrupted only briefly by jobs in the docks and in restaurants. It was during this period that Law emerged as a social and political activist. Gradually becoming more radical, he first joined first the Chicago chapter of the Longshoreman’s Association, followed by International Labor Defense advocacy group and, finally, the Communist Party. To Law, Communism represented a response to the many inequities he had suffered as a black man and as a union worker. As a labour organizer and a Communist, he fought for the rights of Chicago’s working-class residents in housing disputes with both landlords and the government. more-@ http://uchicagogate.com/2015/03/25/a-forgotten-man-of-principle-the-life-of-oliver-law/

Further reading -@ http://www.blackpast.org/aah/law-oliver-1900-1937

[renewdeal-blog]

The San Francisco General Strike of 1934

The San Francisco General Strike is considered to be the most extensive strike, even today, to every happen in the United States. Over 100,000 trade unionists fought for their equality in the work force, beginning with the longshoreman.  Beginning on March 9, 1934, longshoremen at the San Francisco port, along with Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, San Pedro and San Diego, went on strike, shutting down more than 2000 miles of coastline.  

The main objectives of the strike can be broken down into two categories: better wages and formation of union halls.  At the time, longshoremen were being paid an average income of $12, barely enough to get by.  The International Longshoreman’s Association, ILA, demanded they get paid $1 an hour, with a 6-hour day and 30 hours a week for each longshoreman.  The second and main objective was the creation of union halls.  

Previously, hiring halls were created in 1886 by ship owners to break union control. In 1891, the union was able to establish their own hiring hall, only to have it taken back by the ship owners in 1921. During that time, there was no system in place to give each longshoreman an equal opportunity of work. Known as the “shape up”, Forman of ships would pick which people would work for the day, sending the rest home and creating favoritism amongst the longshoremen.  The longshoremen, therefore, wanted to establish union halls, replacing the “shape up” and giving each longshoreman the chance to earn at least the minimum salary of $50 a week and abolish favoritism by ship owners.

Lead by Harry Bridges, a longshoreman and head of the ILA, the longshoreman’s strike was shortly followed by the Teamster’s Union (truck drivers) and maritime workers.  By May 15, for the first time in history, no single freighter had sailed or had been unloaded rom the Pacific Coast Port.  Strikers were met by police forces – peaceful protesters and strikers were met with clubs, tear gas, sawed-off shot guns and ammunition. 

 On July 5, 1934, the National Guard was called in to open up the San Francisco port and disperse strikers, killing two longshoremen and wounding 64 others, now known as “Bloody Thursday”.  The funeral for the two men sparked a widespread strike in the San Francisco.  The streets were filled for miles, representative of every union in the city - a massive silent protest.  No business was open and no streetcars in sight, heavily effecting the city’s economy. 

117 San Francisco unions voted for a general strike, and voted for arbitration three days later.  A deal was finally made in October 1934.

The exact length of the strike is still highly debated.  Many say the strike lasted for four days, referring to the shutdown of the San Francisco port.  Others believe the strike lasted 83 days, considering the beginning of the strike to be May 9 and the end to be October.  Either way, the General Strike helped push California in the direction of a new phase in labor relations within the state. 

The strike speaks volumes in that peaceful protesters/strikers are met with police brutality, evident both in our past and in our present.  The pictures and videos during this time depict the history of the General Strike.  You are able to see the strikers stand up for what they believe in, the undeniable effect of the death of the two longshoreman, and how influential this event truly was.

- Fiona McCann

[shirlleycoyle]

One of America’s Most Powerful Unions Will Shut Down 29 Ports on Juneteenth

On Friday, 38,000 union dockyard workers will shut down all 29 of the U.S.’s Pacific Coast ports to protest the killing of George Floyd, in the most sweeping action yet taken by a labor union in solidarity with protests against nationwide police brutality this spring.

The work stoppage, staged by members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), who handle billions of dollars of cargo, will be the largest work stoppage that one of the country's most powerful unions has undertaken in more than a decade.

“All the way from Washington [state] to San Diego, the ILWU will be standing by in honor of brother George Floyd and in our quest to end systemic racism and police terror,” Trent Willis, president of ILWU Local 10 in Oakland, told Motherboard. “It’s sad that we’re dealing with the same issue stemming from systemic racism that we were dealing with in the 1930s.”

Known for its demonstrations of political protest, the labor union was one of the first in the United States to desegregate its ranks in the 1930s, at a time when Black workers were used as “scabs,” or replacements for striking dockyard workers.

The work stoppage is planned for Juneteenth, which commemorates the day in 1885 that Texas slaves received news of their freedom, two years after the passage of the emancipation proclamation. Not recognized as an official U.S. holiday, labor unions and racial justice organizations have planned marches and rallies for Friday—and a smattering of major companies, including Uber, Nike, and Mastercard, have declared it a holiday. New York governor Andrew Cuomo has also declared it a state holiday.

The decision to stop work on Juneteenth was a logical one for the ILWU, given its enduring status as one of the nation’s most militantly anti-racist unions. In the 1940s, the union fought back against the internment of Japanese Americans. And in 1984, in violation of their union contract, longshore workers in the Bay Area refused to unload cargo from a South African ship for 11 days in protest of apartheid. More recently, the union’s members have shut down Pacific ports over the Iraq War in 2008 and the police killing of Oscar Grant at Oakland’s Fruitvale Station in 2010.

“[The ILWU understands] that laws in this country were made to hurt workers, just as laws in the south were made to hurt Blacks. This type of work stoppage is what needs to be done by every union in the country,” Jack Heyman, a former longshoreman and one of the lead organizers of Friday’s shutdown told Motherboard.

In the past, ILWU members have not hesitated to engage in illegal strikes—those prohibited by union contracts—but Friday’s work stoppage will be legal; Juneteenth coincides with the ILWU’s monthly daylong union meeting, which is protected by its union contract.

In March, as a cruise ship with several hundred confirmed COVID-19 cases anchored off the coast of San Francisco, Motherboard reported that ILWU workers threatened to close ports in protest of unsanitary working conditions that threatened workers with unnecessary exposure to Coronavirus.

“At first there was some resistance [to shut down ports among leaders], but there was overwhelming support from the bottom up. After Seattle, Portland, and Los Angeles agreed, all the other unions fell in line,” Heyman continued. “The decision to stop work was unanimous.”

The idea for the Juneteenth work stoppage was spearheaded by ILWU Local 10 in Oakland—a particularly militant local with a membership that is 75 percent black, according to its president. Soon they received support from cities up and down the coast.

Members of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), which represents dockyard workers on the East and Gulf coasts, declined informal invitations to join the work stoppage, according to ILWU members.

Friday’s work stoppage will culminate in rallies in the ports of Seattle and Oakland, where activist and scholar Angela Davis and filmmaker Boots Riley will give speeches.

Since George Floyd’s murder, union workers across the country have staged a number of actions in solidarity with Black Lives Matter protesters. Bus drivers in Minneapolis, New York City, and Washington DC refused to transport police officers and arrested protestors. Meanwhile, organized labor groups representing journalists and teachers have pushed labor leaders to sever ties with police unions. The ILWU’s Juneteenth work stoppage has received endorsements from Bay Area teachers, transportation workers, and nurses unions.

One of America’s Most Powerful Unions Will Shut Down 29 Ports on Juneteenth syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/