New Orleans: Striking Longshoremen say, ‘Machines don't feed families’
New Orleans, LA – At 12 a.m. on October 1, hundreds of longshoremen, clerks and mechanics started picketing at the corner of Felicity and Tchoupitoulas Streets, the entryway for trucks going to the docks. They stopped work with 85,000 workers represented by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), at ports from Maine to Texas. The main reasons for the strike were the threat of automation stealing jobs, as well as asking for significant raises.
Port workers have been working on the same contract since before COVID-19, despite significant increases in the cost of living.
“Do you know how many people I've seen die out here? We were the front line of COVID, interacting with people from all over the world, many of whom didn't have access to the vaccine. And they want to reward us for that with a bus ticket to the fucking unemployment office,” said one worker on the picket line.
The mood was militant, and spirits were high, as port workers joked with their union officers about escalating the action to blocking streets. Tents and chairs were set up quickly as the workers attended the picket line in six-hour shifts to hold the line 24/7. One longshoreman said, “We're all American workers who don't want to see the country fall to the one guy at the top of the pyramid. Robots don't pay taxes, they don't feed families, the money they make doesn't go back into the economy. It just goes straight to the top.”
When another was asked if they wanted to strike, he said “We have no choice. If we wait another six years, there won't be any more jobs to fight for.”
Port workers stayed on strike for over 60 hours until the union negotiators and the US Maritime Alliance reached a tentative agreement on wage increases, allowing work to continue until January 15. According to some sources, this shutdown cost the U.S. economy over $10 billion. Although the wage issue was settled, there have been no reports of any tentative agreement on automation, one of the main demands of the strike.