As longshoremen strike continues, Gov. Moore and Sen. Van Hollen visit Dundalk longshoremen

First published Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024 in the Dundalk Eagle.

As the longshoremen’s strike against the U.S. Maritime Alliance group continues into its second day, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Sen. Chris Van Hollen, both Democrats, briefly stopped by to support the workers.

The International Longshoremen’s Association, which represents the longshoremen going on strike across the East Coast, has been striking since midnight on Tuesday. It is demanding a pay increase for the workers to keep pace with inflation — 77% — and a ban on automation, according to the Associated Press.  

The Maritime Alliance, which is abbreviated as USMX and represents many shipping companies, marine terminal operators and port associations, has offered a lesser increase and pledged to keep current contract language about automation, the Associated Press reported. 

Moore and Van Hollen both walked the picket line for a few minutes before making short speeches. 

“I’m down here with the governor to stand in solidarity with all of you until you get a good contract and a fair contract,” Van Hollen told the assembled workers and journalists. 

“Machines don’t feed families, support ILA workers,” he said, reading off a strike sign. “Don’t kill our children’s future with automation.”

A union organizer interrupted him.

“If they don’t, what we gonna do?” the organizer asked the crowd?

“Shut it down!” they shouted. Van Hollen didn’t comment and soon passed the bullhorn off to Moore.

“It’s about respect,” the governor told the crowd. “It’s about understanding who is the backbone of our economy.” 

“It is the workers. It is you,” he added.

“ILA,” a union organizer immediately shouted into a megaphone.

“All the way!” the crowd responded.

“We are never gonna stop standing by you,” Moore said, “because you never stopped standing by us.”

International Longshoremen’s Association Local 333 President Scott Cowan said the politicians’ appearance was not political posturing in an interview minutes after the governor wrapped up his speech.

“Gov. Moore stood by us through the Key Bridge collapse, made commitments to us that he kept, and Sen. Van Hollen has always backed the port, always,” he said. Former Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican running for the U.S. Senate, also stopped by on Monday, he said.

“These guys are not just during tragedies or problems, they keep in contact with us when it’s good.”

Rep. Andy Harris, a Republican who represents Maryland’s first district in Congress and chairs the House Freedom Caucus, though, is not in support.

He called for President Joe Biden to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act, which forces the union and their negotiating partner, in this case the U.S. Maritime Alliance, to sit down at the table — if a federal court agrees.

It would start an 80-day “cooling off” period, in which workers are forced to continue their work and the two sides attempt to hammer out a deal, according to Reuters. The union is not required to agree to any proposal made during the negotiations, according to the Associated Press, and could continue their strike.

“The President should not allow this strike to ruin the economy or disrupt the supply chain,” Harris wrote in a press release.

Biden has said he will not invoke the legislation.

The biggest struggle seems to be reaching an agreement on the master contract, the contract that covers all longshoremen the International Longshoremen’s Association organizes. It sets the pay rates for handling roll on/roll off cargo — think tractors and trucks — and containers, Cowan said.

Pay rates for other types of cargo are dependent on the local contract, the contract between the local union like the International Longshoremen’s Association 333, representing Port of Baltimore workers, and their employers, Cowan added.

“Our real contention is not with our employers,” he said, nor is it with the ports they work at. “We’ve got a good relationship with our employers. It’s with the steamship lines. They’re the ones that call the shots.”