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Dockworkers at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports are on strike for a second day, seeking a 77% pay raise. NPR's Andrea Hsu reports they say they also want respect.
ANDREA HSU, BYLINE: The strike was only minutes old when the International Longshoremen's Association posted a video of their president, Harold Daggett, at a port in New Jersey. He had some fiery words about the foreign-owned shippers and port operators that he's been fighting in contract talks.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HAROLD DAGGETT: These companies over in Europe - they don't give a [expletive] about us. We're going to show them they're going to have to give a [expletive] about us 'cause nothing's going to move without us.
(CHEERING)
HSU: By Tuesday afternoon, the union had declared that it intends to strike around the clock for as long as it takes the companies to meet their demands. On job protections, the union wants absolute airtight language banning automation. And on wages, Daggett confirmed what had been rumored - that the union wants a $5 raise every year for six years. That would bring the top wage from $39 an hour to $69 an hour by 2030.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ILA MEMBER: How much money do we want?
UNIDENTIFIED ILA MEMBERS: (Chanting) All the money.
UNIDENTIFIED ILA MEMBER: How much money do we want?
UNIDENTIFIED ILA MEMBERS: (Chanting) All the money.
HSU: On the picket line in Baltimore, rank-and-file members seem pretty enthusiastic about Daggett's demands. And at the Port of Wilmington in North Carolina, Bill Freeman gave the union leader a rousing endorsement.
BILL FREEMAN: I'm proud to say that Harold Daggett is a bulldog. He is awesome, so whatever he says we need, that's what we need. And whatever he says we can get, that's what I'm looking for.
HSU: The U.S. Maritime Alliance, representing the companies, noted that its current offer of a nearly 50% wage increase exceeds every other recent union settlement. And they added, we look forward to hearing from the union about how we can return to the table and actually bargain.
Andrea Hsu, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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