Dockworkers with the International Longshoremen’s Association went on strike at midnight Tuesday, shutting down container freight operations in New York City ports and along the eastern seaboard and Gulf coast.
The labor action is the first major port work-stoppage along the coast in 47 years, halting operations at major ports from New York to cities like Baltimore, Miami, and Houston. It comes after months of stalled talks between the ILA and the United States Marine Alliance—USMX—a shipping consortium.
The dockworkers are demanding an increase in pay and a ban on automation at the ports.
Gov. Hochul told reporters Monday that the Port of New York and New Jersey had been working to clear off-loaded containers from ports in Brooklyn, Staten Island and Elizabeth, N.J., so that cargo did not get stuck behind a picket line.
“In preparation for this moment, New York has been working around the clock to ensure that our grocery stores and medical facilities have the essential products they need,” Hochul said early Tuesday morning.
“It’s critical for USMX and the ILA to reach a fair agreement soon that respects workers and ensures a flow of commerce through our ports,” she added. “In the meantime, we will continue our efforts to minimize disruption for New Yorkers.”
“I want to tell you all, what you’re doing is right,” ILA’s international president, Harold Daggett, told dockworkers on a picket line in Elizabeth early Tuesday morning. “This is going down in history, what we’re doing here.”
“These companies over in Europe, they don’t give a f–k about us,” Daggett said of the shipping consortium members.
“They’re going to have to give a f–k about us, because nothing’s going to move without us,” he said to applause.
The strike involves dockworkers who handle containerized freight and roll-on, roll-off ships carrying automobiles — the overwhelming majority of cargo that enters the port.
Bulk-freight, which is not containerized, is expected to continue to enter and exit the ports amid the strike.