#port union

[allboutculture]

hi

[aryburn-trains]

GO Transit 503 at Port Union, Toronto, ON just west of Rouge Hill GO station in September 1978 by Marty Bernard Via Flickr: A Roger Puta Photograph

[newfoundlandland]

Port Union Closed Panoramic by Zach Bonnell Via Flickr: My friend and I took a drive around the Bonavista Peninsula on Tuesday. It was my first time to a lot of the towns in that area and I had a really nice time. I spent a night in Eastport and then a couple of nights in Gander afterwards. A nice week of traveling.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

The union representing foremen at British Columbia ports has issued a 72-hour strike notice, according to the association representing its employers.   The B.C. Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) said Thursday that if the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 514 takes strike action, it would begin on Monday at 8 a.m. PT. The BCMEA says the escalation came after it presented the union a final offer on Wednesday, which it says will provide ILWU Local 514 members with significant gains in wages and benefits, as well as a signing bonus. 

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Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

[michaelpaul7]

Support Unions! Vote Kamala Harris!

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Michael Sainato at The Guardian:

The US ports strike that shut down shipping on the east and Gulf coasts for three days came to an end on Thursday after dock workers struck a tentative deal with port operators. The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) announced that the union had reached an agreement with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) on wages, suspending their walkout until January. Work would resume immediately, the union said. The strike – which involved 45,000 workers across 36 ports, from Texas to Maine – was the first to hit the east and Gulf coast ports of the US since 1977. The tentative agreement is for a wage hike of around 62%, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. Both sides said in a statement they would return to the bargaining table to negotiate all outstanding issues. Concern had been mounting about the potential economic impact of the strike, and the threat of shortages. JP Morgan analysts estimated the walkout could cost the US economy as much as $5bn a day. After it emerged that the strike had ended, Joe Biden told reporters: “By the grace of God and goodwill of neighbors, it’s going to hold.”

“Today’s tentative agreement on a record wage and an extension of the collective bargaining process represents critical progress towards a strong contract,” the US president said in a statement. “I want to thank the union workers, the carriers, and the port operators for acting patriotically to reopen our ports and ensure the availability of critical supplies for Hurricane Helene recovery and rebuilding. “Collective bargaining works, and it is critical to building a stronger economy from the middle out and the bottom up.” Kamala Harris also praised the agreement, echoing Biden’s sentiment about the power of collective bargaining. “As I have said, this is about fairness – and our economy works best when workers share in record profits. Dockworkers deserve a fair share for their hard work getting essential goods out to communities across America,” Harris said in a statement. Negotiations between ILA and USMX had broken down in June after the union accused USMX of violating the contract by introducing automation at some ports.

After three days of ports along the Gulf Coast and East Coast got shut down due to the ILA strike, dock workers have agreed to a tentative deal and suspend their walkout until January 15th, 2025, 5 days before the winner of the 2024 Presidential election will begin their term.

See Also:

AP, via NewsNation: Dockworkers’ union to suspend strike until Jan. 15 to allow time to negotiate new contract

[timetravellingkitty]

interesting how most of the indians who support israel are those who benefit from caste apartheid. very interesting indeed

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"It was the IWW [Industrial Workers of the World or Wobblies] and the Finns that initially took the lead in supporting the Russian Revolution, which had profoundly influenced political developments in Finland.

...

According to A.T. Hill, local Wobblies “hailed the Russian Bolshevic [sic] revolution as something that had followed the IWW economic blueprint.” Mass meetings to protest the continued involvement of Canadian armed forces in Russia were organized. A “Friends of Russia” committee, composed of workers representing a number of organizations and trade unions in Port Arthur and Fort William, was also established. And, as Hill remembered, within the columns of the newly created Vapaus newspaper, members of the Finnish community could engage with recent events in Russia and forge closer bonds with fellow Finns working in other lumber camps. Many Wobblies viewed the Russian Revolution in much the same way as other socialist organizations in North America. Its success was seen as an indication that the end of capitalism was at hand and that workers in North America should take heart from the events in Russia. Despite becoming largely inactive in the region during the second half of the First World War, the IWW remained vigorous across the border in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Most notably, the Superior District Lumber Workers Industrial Union No. 500 continued to agitate and to lead strikes. It was among the lumber workers in Wisconsin and Minnesota and in classes taken at the Work People’s College in Duluth, Minnesota, that Hill spent much of the war.

Drawn to the growing unrest at the Lakehead, Hill moved to Port Arthur in 1917 and dedicated himself to the activities of local Finnish socialists. On behalf of the IWW LWIU [Lumber Workers International Union], Hill and those he recruited toured much of Northwestern Ontario in an attempt to organize workers and drum up subscriptions for Vapaus. Much of the IWW’s attention was focused on the Russell and Newaygo Timber Company and its operations within the district of Thunder Bay. Despite high hopes, in the end Hill was fired (both for his agitation and for conflicts with Lutheran Finnish workers). There now existed within the camps [thanks to the Russian Revolution] a rift between non-socialists and socialists, and debates over the various interpretations of Marxism.

The IWW appealed greatly to immigrant workers in Northwestern Ontario. As Holmer Borg, a Swedish lumber worker and IWW organizer, recalled in 1972:

The IWW organized through its members. Every member was expected to organize, not necessarily by having well organized meetings, [but] simply by talking among workers.

The IWW also tended to focus on the immediate issues that faced workers where they organized. In addition, many recent immigrants were drawn to unions whose organizers actually spoke their language. Most of the other established trade unions tended to send English-speaking organizers who had little or no actual experience in the regions they were visiting or with the workers they were trying to organize.

...

One report by the Dominion Police referred to the Finns in Port Arthur as “anarchists pure and simple.”"

- Michel S. Beaulieu, Labour at the Lakehead: Ethnicity, Socialism, and Politics, 1900-35. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2011. p. 53-55.

[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

[jackass-democrats]

Democrats and greed are destroying America's economy.

[oledavyjones]

Thanks to iancoombe.tripod.com. It's supposed to show a moored ship of the Union Castle Line. Don't know any year, but it feels like the 40s.... in a British port. Anyone recognizes the cranes?

[gwydionmisha]

This is HUGE. I am so glad they got their much deserved wage increase.

[thatstormygeek]

well...sort of. I support strike action, but am not thrilled with the military carveout.

Mercogliano said the union leadership made clear in late September that military cargoes would be handled and cruise ship operations also would not be affected by the stoppage. ILA President Harold Daggett repeated the union’s “no strike pledge” for military cargo in a Sept. 25 news release. “We continue our pledge to never let our brave American troops down for their valor and service and we will proudly continue to work all military shipments … even if we are engaged in a strike.”

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Lori Ann Larocco at CNBC:

Billions in trade came to a screeching halt at U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast ports after members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) began walking off the job after 12:01 a.m. ET on October 1. The ILA is North America’s largest longshoremen’s union, with roughly 50,000 of its 85,000 members making good on the threat to strike at 14 major ports subject to a just-expired master contract with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), and picketing workers beginning to appear at ports. The union and port ownership group failed to reach agreement by midnight on a new contract in a protracted battle over wage increases and use of automation. In a last-ditch effort on Monday to avert a strike that will cause significant harm to the U.S. economy if it is lengthy — at least hundreds of millions of dollars a day at the largest ports like New York/New Jersey — the USMX offered a nearly 50% wage hike over six years, but that was rejected by the ILA, according to a source close to the negotiations. The port ownership group said it hoped the offer would lead to a resumption of collective bargaining.

The 14 ports where preparations for a strike have been underway are Boston, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, Wilmington, North Carolina, Baltimore, Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah, Jacksonville, Tampa, Miami, New Orleans, Mobile, and Houston. New York Governor Kathy Hochul said in a statement issued shortly after midnight that “the first large-scale eastern dockworker strike in 47 years began at ports from Maine to Texas, including at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. In preparation for this moment, New York has been working around the clock to ensure that our grocery stores and medical facilities have the essential products they need.” Rhetoric from ILA leadership has been aggressive in the weeks leading up to the strike, with ILA president Harold Daggett, who was a union member the last time it went out on strike in 1977, telling rank-and-file members — who unanimously voted to authorize a strike — in a recent video message, “We’ll crush them.” 

[...] The most significant issues would be faced by food and automobile industries, Kamins said, as they rely especially heavily on the ports that will be shut down. While a surge in inflation is highly unlikely even with a longer strike, even a modest reacceleration could create uncertainty and force the Federal Reserve to be more cautious about lowering interest rates, which would weigh on the overall outlook for job growth and investment. A one-week strike could cost the U.S. economy $3.78 billion, according to an analysis by The Conference Board, and cause supply chain slowdowns through mid-November. In all, the ports threatened with strikes handle $3 trillion annually in U.S. annual international trade.

Many industries are preparing for major repercussions. Noushin Shamsili, CEO and president of Nuco Logistics, which specializes in pharmaceutical imports and exports, said the strike comes at a critical time for inventory replenishment for the pharma sector. “Almost all of this industry is just on time,” said Shamsili. “Raw materials are being brought in to complete drug manufacturing. Medical supplies for clinics and hospitals are on these vessels. For a while importers did not bring in a lot of cargo because they were overflowing with supplies post-Covid. Now they have started reordering medical devices, gloves, syringes, and tubing.” Shamsili also said the East Coast ports are a gateway for generic medicine made in India. Approximately 48% of the active pharmaceutical ingredients used in the U.S. are being imported from India. Without these APIs, medications cannot be produced. APIs are also manufactured in Europe, which also use the East Coast ports as U.S. points of entry.

[...] The Biden administration finds itself in a delicate political moment, with the presidential election one month away and President Biden vowing he will not use existing labor law to force union workers back on the job, which is within his powers under the Taft-Hartley Act. The Taft-Hartley Act, passed in 1947, was a revision of U.S. law governing labor relations and union activity that granted a U.S. president the power to suspend a strike for an 80-day “cooling off period” in cases where “national health or safety” are at risk. 

Today begins the strike along East Coast and Gulf Coast ports after International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) members walked off their jobs.

This strike, depending on how long it lasts, could have a major impact on the elections and the economy.

[tiny-cloud-of-flowers]

Forbidden Clionort from me testing out eye textures earlier