On November 22nd, 800 longshore workers in Mobile, Alabama in the union International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1410 began a strike against the CSA Equipment Company at what is said to be the 11th largest seaport in the United States. The workers have been working without a contract for over four years since October 2018. Since then, they have voted down three tentative agreements that have been pushed forward by the company and union leadership of the International Longshoremen’s Association. The strike began after the Federal Government stepped in and unsuccessfully attempted to mediate an agreement.
The workers are striking for retroactive benefits and pensions that the company has frozen for the past few years, even as its revenue has increased. And workers are demanding an increase in staffing, and an end to the outsourcing of jobs using non-unionized labor from private companies.
This strike just highlights another example of how, in order to get what they want, workers must unite together not only to stand up to the bosses and government mediators, but also to reject the agreements that the negotiators of their union keep trying to get the workers to agree to.
