Port strike is latest in America’s labor activism era

The U.S. dockworkers who went on strike early Tuesday are just the latest unionized group to back their demands for better contracts by walking off the job to illustrate their value to both the national economy and their employers’ bottom line. Unions representing auto workers, actors, hotel housekeepers, and aircraft-assembly workers all called strikes as organized labor made itself heard over the past year. Members argued they made the sacrifices their companies asked of them during the pandemic and rough economic patches, and now it’s time to catch up, particularly after several years of heightened inflation. Between 2022 and 2023, the number of work stoppages rose 9% to 466 strikes and four lockouts, according to figures maintained by Cornell University’s ILR [Industrial and Labor Relations] School. However, the number of workers involved in work stoppages, approximately 539,000, was more than double that of the previous year, according to the school’s research. A database maintained by Cornell and the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign recorded 250 strikes and other labor actions in 2024 as of Monday. Here’s a look at some recent showdowns between companies and organized labor: U.S. ports and the International Longshoremen’s Association Dockworkers at 36 ports from Maine to Texas hit picket lines early Tuesday, the first strike for them in decades, over wages and automation even though progress had been reported in contract talks. The contract between the ports and about 45,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association expired at midnight. The alliance said it had increased its offer to 50% raises over six years, and it pledged to keep limits on automation in place from the old contract. The alliance also said its offer tripled employer contributions to retirement plans and strengthened healthcare options. In a statement early Tuesday, the union said it rejected the alliance’s latest proposal because it “fell far short of what ILA rank-and-file members are demanding in wages and protections against automation.” The two sides had not held formal negotiations since June. Workers at the Port of Philadelphia walked in a circle outside the port and chanted “No work without a fair contract.” The union, striking for the first time since 1977, had message boards on the side of a truck reading: “Automation Hurts Families: ILA Stands For Job Protection.” If drawn out, the strike will force businesses to pay shippers for delays and cause some goods to arrive late for peak holiday shopping season—potentially impacting delivery of anything from toys and artificial Christmas trees to cars, coffee, even fruit. Boeing and the International Association of Machinists Aircraft-assembly workers walked off the job at Boeing factories near Seattle and elsewhere on September 12 after union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a proposed contract and go on strike. Boeing and negotiators from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers have held three bargaining sessions alongside federal mediators. The company presented a revised contract last week, but the union refused to present it for a vote after surveying its members, who said it failed to meet their wage and pension demands. Video games and SAG-AFTRA Earlier this month video game performers reached agreements with 80 individual games that have signed interim or tiered-budget agreements with the performers’ union and accepted the artificial intelligence provisions they have been seeking. The performers had been striking for more than a month. Members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) began striking in July after negotiations with game industry giants that began more than a year and a half ago came to a halt over AI protections. The interim agreement secures wage improvements, protections around “exploitative uses” of artificial intelligence, and safety precautions that account for the strain of physical performances, as well as vocal stress. The tiered-budget agreement aims to make working with union talent more feasible for independent game developers or smaller-budget projects while also providing performers the protections under the interim agreement. Las Vegas resorts and Culinary Workers Union Last month, thousands of hospitality union workers on the Las Vegas Strip reached a tentative deal with the Venetian and Palazzo resorts, a first for employees at the sprawling Italian-inspired complex that opened 25 years ago. The Culinary Workers Union announced on the social platform X that the deal came together after a year of negotiations. It covers more than 4,000 hotel and casino workers, from housekeepers and cocktail servers to bartenders and porters. Bethany Khan, a union spokesperson, said the deal mirrors the major wins secured in recent contracts awarded