A parade of tractors without their trailers made their way through the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine terminal on Wednesday morning, blaring their horns, to cheers from the picket lines.
Tens of thousands of longshoremen walked off the job at dozens of ports across the east and Gulf coasts earlier this week. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey confirms most operations have been shut down as a result of the strike.
On the picket lines at Elizabeth, New Jersey – one of the largest container ports in the US – strikers have been instructed to man the picket lines 24 hours a day, seven days a week, until the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the US Maritime Alliance (USMX) reach a deal.
“If a monsoon comes, we’re gonna stay out, because we’re used to working in a monsoon,” one striker said. The warm October sun was shining – at least for now.
Disagreements over pay and the automation of machinery are at the heart of the dispute.
Joe Mosquera, a crane operator and union organizer with ILA, local 1235, said its goals were straightforward. “The action is going to give us a fair contract and we can get back to work to get people the goods they need,” he said. “This is for our future generations. To keep automation out is to keep our jobs for the future. And if anything becomes automated, we want to make sure that there’s a worker to back it up.”
The ILA has not had a new contract for six years. “We honored our last contract,” said Mosquera, “even through Covid when we had to work double or triple. We never shut down, so everybody could get their goods. We didn’t ask for a pay raise. We didn’t walk out to try to get leverage when we could have, because we were honoring our agreement.”
Mosquera, 47, is a third-generation longshoreman in his family. His grandfather was hired in 1954, and he hoped his family would work at the port for generations to come. “I hope to keep it going, yes,” he said.
Iwona Purwin, an inventory checker who has worked at the port since 1998, said she had been out all night and the strikers would stay for “as long as it takes”. “I would like to see no automation take place at all and for the American people to keep their jobs.”
The port management “are trying to take our jobs”, Purwin said. “I’m a single mom of three. How would I provide for my family if I’m not working?”
Purwin, 46, drives an hour to work each day from central New Jersey, and described how she had shouldered increases “in gas prices, tolls and everything else. We’re not getting paid for any of this stuff. We didn’t get a raise for inflation or for anything else. We were essential workers. We worked through Covid. And we didn’t ask for anything.”
The demands of the union workers, she said, had been mischaracterized. “They don’t understand how much we work and the sacrifices we make for our families. It’s not a nine-to-five job. This is seven days a week around the clock, so we’re here, often more than we are with our families.”
Questions have been raised about the strike’s potential impact on Thanksgiving and the holiday season. Mosquera expressed hope that a deal will come sooner. “I’m a father and a husband, I worry about everything,” he said. “I hope it will not last that long. We demand a fair contract, so we can get back to work.”
