Jacksonville, FL – On Saturday, August 30, workers came out in full force to demonstrate outside of Senator Rick Scott’s office in downtown Jacksonville. This rally, organized by the North Florida Central Labor Council and the North Florida Future Labor Leaders, was in protest to the onslaught on US workers by the current administration.

This protest was sparked by the AFL-CIO’s call for a “Workers' Labor Day.”

Union teachers, plumbers, longshoremen, electricians, logistics workers and city employees showed out and demonstrated the power of union solidarity. LJ Holloway, a rank-and-file member of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), led the chant: “United we bargain! Divided we beg!” Anyone in downtown Jacksonville could hear the echoes of the workers chanting, “Who’s got the power? We got the power! What kind of power? Worker power!”

Monica Gold, a middle school teacher and proud union member, told the crowd, “Within our building we have teachers, paraprofessionals and office personnel. We have maintenance workers, school bus drivers, cafeteria workers and custodians. And I think about how their victories are my victories, and how their losses are my losses, and that we’re so much stronger when we work together. I think it’s high time that we stop asking for things, but that we demand things.”

Many at the rally spoke on the Trump administration’s shameful attacks on unions and the working class as a whole, including the recent ruling on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Michael Sampson, an organizer and union rep for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) stated, “What we are seeing is the agenda of Donald Trump to starve us, to get rid of our unions, to get rid of the solidarity that we have with each other. Because he knows that having a union means having an organization, and having an organization of workers means having the ability to fight back against the agenda of corporate America.”

Shayne Tremblay, a union electrician and president of the North Florida Future Labor Leaders spoke on the need for solidarity, stating, “I believe that we need to take the winning strategy of solidarity that got us our unions, and we need to aim higher. We need to stand in solidarity, not just with our coworkers, but with every working person in this country. We need to organize all working people to turn this into a country that is for workers, by workers.”

The rally took place in one the most traffic-heavy parts of the city, and the workers got a plethora of honks and expressions of support from folks driving by.

#JacksonvilleFL #FL #Labor #LaborDay #NFFLL #AFLCIO #ILA #AFSCME

The tentative agreement only pertains to wages and not to other language that the union members have been fighting for, like language to protect their jobs from automation. Because the agreement is only partial, the union suspended the strike effective immediately but set a date of January 15 to resume the strike if no agreement is reached to finalize the contract by then.

The ports management had previously offered around 50% in wage increases over a six-year contract. This 50% offer comes after years of wages that did not keep up with rising profits by the port owners, which grew exponentially during and since the pandemic. After three days facing a strike – which was estimated to cost as much as $5 billion for every day it continued – ports management came back to the table with a new offer which is reported to include 62% in increases over the six year period.

The strike was also due to concerns over automation coming to the 36 ports at which ILA represents from the Gulf Coast and along the East Coast up to Maine. The ILA is fighting for language to protect the workers’ jobs form being replaced through automation. That fight continues even as the union suspends its strike and tentatively agrees to a framework for wages.

While a tentative wage agreement has been reached, the union did not end its strike, it simply suspended it until January 15 to give the union members and the ports time to negotiate over the remaining issues on the table. Strike activity could resume as early as January 15 if a full deal is not reached by then. Any deal that is reached will need to be voted on by the ILA members as part of a full contract deal.

#NewYorkNY #NY #Labor #ILA #strike #longshoremen #dockworkers

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.

#NewOrleansLA #LA #Labor #ILA #Strike #Longshoremen

Tampa, FL – On Tuesday at 12:01 a.m., about 40 longshoremen and their supporters began their picket line outside the Port of Tampa. The International Longshoremen Association Locals 1691 and 1804 are among the 50,000 South and Gulf Coast longshoremen on strike.

The strike started after two years of bargaining with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) did not lead to a contract that the ILA could accept. The main disagreement was over automation in the industry. The ILA wants full preservation of historic jobs and will not accept full or semi-automated replacement of workers. Longshoremen are also demanding wages that account for inflation.

“Employers push automation under the guise of safety, but it is really about cutting labor costs to increase their already exponentially high profits. As the last six years have demonstrated, automation cannot outperform the skilled men and women of the ILA,” said Nick DeFresco, president of ILA Local 1691.

The companies that make up USMX report billions of dollars of profit per year.

The longshoremen held signs reading, “ILA workers over machines: Defend our jobs and rights” and chanted “ILA all the way!”

“The ILA will continue to fight until the members receive a fair contract that they deserve,” said DeFresco.

#TampaFL #FL #Labor #Longshoremen #ILA #Strike

It is estimated that between 43% and 49% of all U.S. imports enter the U.S through ports on the East Coast and Gulf Coast, and those goods and materials have been brought to a standstill by the strike, which is expected to have a massive impact on the U.S. economy and on availability of goods if the strike stretches on for weeks.

In a statement released on the first day of the strike, ILA President Harold Daggett said that the workers are fighting for a $5 an hour increase for each year of the contract over six years. They also want to be able to collect all royalties for containers they have handled, and are proposing language to protect their jobs and industry from automation.

Recent years, since the pandemic, have seen exponential growth in profits for ocean carriers that move goods around the world on large container ships. The huge increases in profits, paired with the failure of port management to offer significant pay increases, combined with the looming threat of automation in the ports led the ILA members to decide to go on strike and shut down the distribution and shipping of goods which the docks, carriers, suppliers and manufacturers depend on them for.

Business and labor analysts have reported that the strike may be costing as much as $5 billion for each day that the strike continues. In addition to the massive amount of goods imported through these ports, the ports also handle exporting. In fact, this strike is delaying nearly two-thirds of exports as well as shutting down goods coming into the country.

The ILA strike follows a significant uptick in strike activity among major industries in the United States. In 2023 workers represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW) across the Big Three auto companies went on strike and won major gains as a result. That auto strike came on the tail of a near strike at UPS in which the workers won major gains as well. It is unclear when or how the Longshoremen and Dockworkers will choose to end their strike.

#NewYorkNY #NY #Labor #ILA #Strike