Free Republic

East and Gulf Coast dockworkers could resume their strike on Jan. 15 if a deal isn't reached.. The union representing dockworkers at East and Gulf Coast ports walked away from the negotiating table with port employers this week over concerns about automation as the two sides face a mid-January deadline to finalize a deal and prevent the resumption of a strike.. The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents port employers, were on their second day of talks this week when the ILA union left negotiations ... the ILA union is refusing to agree to...

This strike isn’t over. It’s just delayed until after the election, so it doesn’t hurt the Democratic party at the polls. We have been told many things about the longshoremen’s strike over the past week. Most of the reporting has been in half-truths, at best – possibly because the press doesn’t know any better (the operations of our seaports are an admittedly obscure area of specialization), or possibly because the press doesn’t want to share information so damning to the side they instinctively favor. Here are just a few of the misleading statements thrown at us in the past week:...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Harris-Walz Surrogate Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) argued that there will be fewer strikes if 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris is elected and that the head of the dockworkers union is “a Trump guy” who might want to cripple the economy for political purposes.

As East and Gulf Coast ports begin to operate as normal again, one of the country’s top entrepreneurs is weighing in on “the trouble” with union workers’ demands. “The trouble with East Coast ports is they’re very old, they’re very inefficient,” O’Leary Ventures Chairman and “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary said on “Varney & Co.” Friday. “And when you start to compare them against other international ports like Singapore and the other Asian ports,” he continued, “we’re just not holding much up against them. And that’s very bad for productivity.” US dockworkers returned to work Friday morning after reaching a...

'I'm a Democrat but they have [expletive] us over for the last 40 years and for once we're standing up as a union saying what the [expletive] have you done for us?' O'Brien said in scathing remarks. 'I'm getting attacked from the left you know and since I've been in office over two and a half years we've given the Democratic machine $15.7 million. 'We've given Republicans about $340,000 truth be told, so it's like you know people say the Democratic party is the party of working people, but they're actually bought and paid for by big tech,' O'Brien explained.

As of today, the International Longshoreman’s Association (“ILA”) is on strike at 45 ports along America’s eastern and southern shores. It is demanding a huge wage increase and the end of automation. Harold Daggett, the ILA’s president, has gone on record saying, “I will cripple” America. Even assuming the normal posturing in these negotiations, that’s a singularly ugly threat. Although Daggett successfully pushed back against DOJ charges that he’s a member of the mob, that has a “mob-like” feel. The ILA’s demands are simple (emphasis mine):The union is demanding higher wages and a total ban on the automation at ports...

On Sept. 27, US Rep. Majorie Taylor-Greene warned about the ramifications of a strike in a tweet. Rep. Greene claims, “It’s very important to understand how critical this is given that America is now in a $36 billion dollar food trade deficit for the first time in our nation’s history. Also, the Biden-Harris administration and congressional out-of-control spending have driven inflation so high that many Americans can’t afford quality of life. I think this situation is serious and, depending on whether they strike and how long it lasts, could be a crisis going into the election, holidays, and winter.