Political observers and experts are raising alarms about the International Longshoreman's Association union strike, which has seen dockworkers suspend their duties unloading cargo at ports along the East and Gulf Coasts — speculating whether the head of the union is attempting economic sabotage in favor of former President Donald Trump.
USMX, the key guild of maritime employers, offered the ILA upwards of 60 percent salary increases in their new contracts. The ILA, however, is demanding even higher increases, as well as the continuation of exorbitant fees to handle shipping containers — a practice so expensive, according to maritime journalist John Konrad, that U.S. ports frequently ship freight over roads hundreds of miles at ten times the expense to consumers rather than transport containers onto secondary barges at a fraction of the price to consumers — as well as a total ban on any new technology to automate ports, which industry experts have warned could destroy the competitiveness of U.S. shipping.
The extreme nature of the demands has caused speculation among observers that the whole thing might be a ploy to get Trump elected.
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"This strike is causing heads to explode," wrote Philadelphia columnist Will Bunch, linking to the New York Post article outlining the outsized wealth of ILA boss Harold Daggett, who has threatened to "cripple" the U.S. economy if his demands are not met and has twice beaten allegations from the Justice Department that he has ties to the Mafia. "Here's the zealously pro-Trump (but anti-union) NY Post righteously going after the pro-Trump union boss who's shutting down the economy to help Trump."
Authoritarianism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat had similar concerns to Bunch: "Economic sabotage to create conditions for public to think democracy is failing and accept unlawful removal of a progressive government has been part of the right-wing playbook for many decades. It prepared the public to accept a coup in Chile in 1973."
There is no evidence that Daggett's labor demands are meant to influence the presidential election; the ILA has not endorsed a candidate for president, although Daggett was photographed with Trump shortly after the former president survived an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.
For now, both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, whose administration has aggressively pursued pro-labor policies, have spoken in support of the ILA dockworkers' ongoing demands.
