Dockworkers strike in a picket line outside of the Port of Houston Authority on October 01, 2024 in Houston, Texas. Members of the International Longshoreman’s Association have begun a nationwide strike, consisting of more than 50,000 workers at ports along the East Coast and Texas.
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By Tom Krisher, Wyatte Grantham-philips And Tassanee Vejpongsa The Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The 45,000 dockworkers who went on strike Tuesday for the first time in decades at 36 U.S. ports from Maine to Texas may wield the upper hand in their standoff with port operators over wages and the use of automation.
Organized labor enjoys rising public support and has had a string of recent victories in other industries, in addition to the backing of the pro-union administration of President Joe Biden. The dockworkers’ negotiating stand is likely further strengthened by the nation’s supply chain of goods being under pressure in the aftermath …