this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2024
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US port workers and operators reach deal to end East Coast strike immediately (www.reuters.com)
submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml to c/worldnews@lemmy.ml
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U.S. dock workers and port operators reached a tentative deal that will immediately end a crippling three-day strike that has shut down shipping on the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast, the two sides said Thursday.

The tentative agreement is for a wage hike of around 62% over six years, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, including a worker on the picket line who heard the announcement. That would raise average wages to about $63 an hour from $39 an hour over the life of the contract.

The deal ends the biggest work stoppage of its kind in nearly half a century, which blocked unloading of container ships from Maine to Texas and threatened shortages of everything from bananas to auto parts, triggering a backlog of anchored ships outside major ports.

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[–] lousyd@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 1 day ago

What am I going to do with this palette of toilet paper in my garage now?

[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Just imagine what would have been possible if Biden hadn't broken the rail strike.

I'm glad he realized doing that again would destroy Harris's election chances. A lesson for labor: Democrats are only your friend when they need your votes.

[–] TheOubliette@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Democrats aren't even a friend to labor when they need your votes. They rarely provide anything material, usually just looking for a photo op. For a small and weak union that can be helpful for pressuring management but for a president, senator, etc, who only comment on big strikes or negotiations, it is of virtually zero impact.

In terms of policy, the Biden NLRB has maintained most of the anti-labor Trump NLRB policies. Democrats and Republicans love to tag team anti-labor policy. Republicans can openly do so with minimal to no pushback from Dems and Dems can maintain those policies without taking the blame.

[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago

At least when they're desperate for votes they can be convinced to stay out of our way? 🤷‍♀️

[–] mipadaitu@lemmy.world -4 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

.world loves to trot out the fact that highly skilled workers have sick leave now and it really pisses me off

The reality is 90% of workers have been able to get some form of sick leave, but 10,000 are still left with zero. It's been years! If the unions had been allowed to strike they could and would have gotten sick leave for every single worker, probably immediately, but the most vulnerable were abandoned. That's all that is possible without being allowed to strike. Imagine how much more was possible!

[–] FreudianCafe@lemmy.ml -2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Big defeat for the workers. If capitalists were this motivante to end this strike so soon, then the workers could have asked for much more. American labor movement is a joke

[–] TheOubliette@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 day ago

The bar is set so low that striking at all is seen as an advancement, even though you are correct that they could have got much more.

The fact that they were still working during the strike to move military materials during a genocide speaks volumes.