Much of the mainstream media, including Chris Hayes on MSNBC tonight, have said the dispute on the West Coast docks is a strike.
The ILWU, which represents 20,000 dockworkers at 29 ports up and down the West Coast, is not on strike.
The Pacific Maritime Association, which represents the shippers, has systematically cut hours, first night work and then weekend and holiday shifts which has crippled the ports and the economy.
The PMA’s “lockout lite” of first cutting off night work and now holiday and weekend work has reduced our workforce of loading and unloading ships to a mere 32 of a possible 240 hours in the current 10 day span. Furthermore, it is not the ILWU’s fault that the PMA has mismanaged our docks, off-sourced chassis repair, and not trained enough workers for the job.
This contract dispute is ultimately about foreign-owned companies determined on destroying a workforce with complete disregard to the impact to our community, the thousands of workers at the port and the tens of thousands of workers across Washington State whose livelihood depends on international trade. They only care about their profits and the power to destroy 80 years of negotiated contracts and safety agreements that protect workers from the second most dangerous job in America.
The PMA and its member companies’ greed is profound. They have lied about our wages and contract negotiations to the press. Two K-Line officials were just sentenced to federal prison for price-fixing and Maersk Lines was just fined $8.7 million in November for false documents regarding military shipments to Afghanistan.
This contract dispute cannot be equated to a struggling industry with a union unwavering in their demands. This is about companies based in Taiwan, Denmark, England, Japan and China not worried about the safety and welfare of their workers or the short-term consequences of their actions, but the greed that drives them to put our economy at risk.