[Baltimore Sun] ILA dockworkers strike in Baltimore and East Coast, rejecting contract offer
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Baltimore dockworkers joined tens of thousands of longshoremen who went on strike early Tuesday along the East and Gulf coasts, rejecting an 11th-hour offer to boost wages and shutting down ports from Maine to Texas.
The International Longshoremen’s Association rejected port operators’ Monday offer to boost wages by 50%.
The first widespread longshoremen’s strike in almost five decades started at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday as members began walking picket lines, effectively shutting down Baltimore’s port for the second time this year after the shipping accident that destroyed the Francis Scott Bridge and blocked the channel for two months.
ILA workers began picketing just after midnight outside the main gates at Dundalk and Seagirt marine terminals in Southeast Baltimore. The union represents around 2,400 workers in the port.
Outside one entrance on Broening Highway on Tuesday morning, about 40 Longshoremen wearing neon yellow jackets marched in a circle in a steady rain, chanting “Who are we? ILA.”
They carried signs that read “Profit over people is unacceptable” and “Machines don’t feed families. Support ILA workers.”
Workers tried to block an 18-wheeler truck from driving through the gate, but a union organizer told them to clear the way for the driver, apparently a terminal employee but not an ILA member.
Some car carrier trucks entered the terminals after the start of the strike but only to unload or pick up vehicles, not to load or unload onto ships. Otherwise no traffic came through the gates. Drivers along Broening Highway honked horns in support.
Striking dockworkers declined to talk to The Baltimore Sun, referring questions to the ILA headquarters in New York.
The ILA rejected a final proposal Monday from the U.S. Maritime Alliance, which represents shipping lines and marine terminal operators, saying it fell “far short” of demands for higher wages and protections against automation.
“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,” said Harold Daggett, president of the 85,000-member union, in a Facebook post.
Daggett vowed the union will stay out on strike until its demands are met.
A strike is expected to shut down the Port of Baltimore for the second time this year. The port was largely closed for about two months after the container ship Dali struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge, collapsing the span into the Patapsco River, blocking the channel and killing six roadway workers.
It’s also expected to disrupt the economy, both locally and around the country, as the delivery of goods from overseas is delayed. Some economists expect costs to rise, rekindling inflation just as it seemed to be coming under control.
The Maritime Alliance said late Monday that it offered to increase wages by nearly 50 percent, triple employer contributions to employee retirement plans, strengthen health care options and keep current language tied to automation, which has been a bargaining sticking point.
The ILA has been seeking even larger raises, citing huge profits in the industry.
This story will be updated.
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