As Dockworkers Go On An Historic Strike, Should Americans Brace For Higher Costs?

The strike is impacting 36 ports and 45,000 members nationwide.

From Maine to Texas, tens of thousands of U.S. dockworkers walked off of the job just after midnight on Tuesday, launching the first coastwide strike in nearly 50 years.

Dockworkers are carrying signs that read, “Fight Automation, Save Jobs, ILA Demands Job Security.”

The ILA stands for the International Longshoremen’s Association. It is the largest union of maritime workers in North America, representing over 85,000 longshoremen on the Atlantic, Gulf Coasts, Great Lakes, major U.S. rivers, Puerto Rico, Eastern Canada, and the Bahamas, according to its website.

According to the Associated Press, as of Oct.1, the strike is impacting 36 ports and 45,000 dockworkers and members. This is the first strike by the union since 1977.

The union warned this would be a possibility on Monday in a news release, claiming that the United States Maritime Alliance (USMC) “continues” to block a path on a new master contract by “refusing ILA’s demands for a fair and decent contract.” In the letter on Sept. 30, the union warned it would begin in 12 hours.

“The Ocean Carriers represented by USMX want to enjoy rich billion-dollar profits that they are making in 2024 while they offer ILA Longshore Workers an unacceptable wage package that we reject”, the ILA said in the statement. “ILA longshore workers deserve to be compensated for the important work they do keeping American commerce moving and growing. It’s disgraceful that most of these foreign-owned shipping companies are engaged in a ‘Make and Take’ operation: They want to make their billion-dollar profits at United States ports and off the backs of American ILA longshore workers and take those earnings out of this country and into the pockets of foreign conglomerates.”

According to ILA members, shippers are gouging customers, contributing to increasing costs to American consumers.

“They are now charging $30,000 for a full container, a whopping increase from $6,000 per container just a few weeks ago. In just a short time, they went from 6K to 18K, then 24K, and now $30,000,” the letter states. “It’s unheard of, and they are doubling their $30,000 fee stuffing the same container from multiple shippers. They are killing the customers.”

Just weeks prior, the Federal Reserve dropped interest rates by half a point. It was the first interest rate cut since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, signaling that relief would soon be on the way for consumers. In the aftermath of COVID, inflation reached 8%, the highest inflation rate since the early 1980s, The Brookings Institution reports.

There is growing fear the strike could cause another spike in costs and cause shortages if an agreement isn’t made.