Union Bosses Threaten Continued US Port Shutdown

Major US ports will stay shut until pay demands are met. That’s the word from the union boss representing striking dockworkers.

Harold Daggett who is head of the International Longshoremen’s Association made the vow on a picket line in New Jersey on Tuesday, as tens of thousands of dockworkers on the east and gulf coasts walked out in a bid to win a better labour deal.

He said they’re going to win the fight, noting that were they to lose, the port will never open up again.

Businesses are bracing for the possibility of a prolonged ports shut down, which threatens to cause havoc to global trade and the US economy.

President Joe Biden has so far rebuffed calls by some of country’s biggest business groups to use federal power to reopen the ports for 80 days, suspending the strike to provide a cooling-off period for further negotiation.

Biden has said it’s only fair that workers, who put themselves at risk during the pandemic to keep ports open, see a meaningful increase in their wages as well.