The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) has launched a coast-wide shutdown of ports from Maine to Texas at 12:01 a.m. (ET) on Tuesday, October 1, 2024.
Tens of thousands of ILA members set up picket lines at critical waterfront facilities across the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, marking the first major strike of this scale in nearly five decades. This action followed the union’s rejection of the United States Maritime Alliance’s (USMX) final contract offer on Monday. “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 President Harold Daggett, the leader of the 85,000-member ILA union. “We are prepared to fight as long as necessary, to stay out on strike for whatever period of time it takes, to get the wages and protections against...
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