After over six weeks of closed-door talks between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), it appears the contract for 22,000 West Coast dockworkers will expire this week without a new agreement having been reached.
The current deal is set to expire at midnight on June 30. However, the ILWU has made clear that its intention is to keep workers on the job past the deadline, making a mockery of the principle of “no contract, no work.” The ILWU has been in discussions with the PMA and the Biden administration behind the backs of rank-and-file dockworkers to ensure the ports remain open and cargo flowing, even if there is no contract.
*****
What do workers/people here think? Should dockworkers be forced to work indefinitely without a contract? The previous one did not allow a strike, but now that the contract is expiring, I think to keep workers on the job now only benefits the bosses.
Workers all over the world are faced with the same attacks on their wages and living standards with sky high inflation far from transitory. In addition logistic workers are facing threats of automation without compensation.
Here are just a few recent developments among logistic workers in North America and Europe. Joint strike action between these workers would show the bosses who really produces all of societies wealth.
*On June 18 after rejecting the “last, best, offer” from Canadian National Rail, some 750 signal and communication workers went on strike.
*On June 24 the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) began sending out strike ballots to more than 23,000 of its members for strike authorization vote. The rail workers, who work for BNSF (Billionaire Warren Buffet’s railroad) have had to labor for over 3 years without contract.
*Also on June 24, thousands of German dockworkers at six major port, including Europe’s third largest, the Hamburg Port went out on 24-hour “warning strikes”
*Especially significant, rail workers in Britain went on the first national rail strike in decades.
I think now is the time to push the advantage. For over two years workers have sacrificed their lives and freedoms while capitalists and their puppets in government have reaped billions. I don’t think we should limit ourselves to national strikes. Capitalism is global. The companies we fight our multi-national, so must our strategy.
