The contract for 22,000 West Coast dockworkers expires at midnight, tonight. The current contract, negotiated by the ILWU, has a “no-strike” clause, however that, also expires at midnight. While a deal is not going to get done before then, the ILWU hasn't even presented members with the outline of a contract, instead telling workers, and Wall Street, that dockworkers will continue to work, perhaps for months without a contract.
Why hasn't the ILWU called for a strike authorization vote?
In fact, it seems the union has already ruled out a strike before members get a say. ILWU Pres Willie Adams has been meeting behind closed doors with the PMA and the Biden administration for nearly a year. What are they talking about, besides the fact that there must be “no work stoppages or lockouts?”
Why has the ILWU ruled out a strike? This only strengthens the hands of the bosses. The fact is, the PMA is determined to eliminate the highest-paid positions through automation, and increase the length of the working day through a “double flex” shift. There are even proposals to begin operating the ports 24/7 on a permanent basis, which ILWU officials indicated in a video interview they were open to.
Keeping workers on the job not only makes a mockery of the principle of “no contract, no work,” it amounts to an effective banning of a strike action. In following this disastrous course, the ILWU is taking its marching orders directly from the Biden administration, which declared that work stoppages “would not be tolerated this year,” and is in daily discussions with both the union and the PMA.
Those who say the dockworkers can't strike because it would be too disruptive to the “economy” are wrong. First off, it is not dockworkers fault that Trump/Biden and the Fed Reserve are printing billions a month to keep Wall Street satiated while workers salaries stagnate in the face of rising inflation. Dockworkers are not raising interests rates in an attempt to tamp down wages. Dockworkers did not allow the COVID-19 virus to spread uncontrolled for over 2 years, leading to over 1 million deaths and millions more suffering from Long COVID. Dockworkers did not further exacerbate inflation and supply chain crisis by sanctioning Russia. I don't remember dockworkers voting on whether or not to send over $50 billion to Ukrainian military to fight Russia over the inalienable right of the Azov Battalion to join the NATO military alliance.
If the ILWU won't let workers strike, then they aren't fighting for workers interests, but for the bosses. With less than a day until the contract expires, now is the time for dockworkers to organize to fight to establish rank-and-file control. Dockworkers should form a rank-and-file committee to challenge and mobilize opposition to the corporatist policies of the ILWU and to campaign for support from workers in other industries.
Join the fight for workers' control! Find out more about rank-and-file committees at wsws.org/workers