2024-10-04 02:49:24
The dockworkers of the East Coast of the United States and the Gulf of Mexico have won. After six years, they will have a salary increase of 62% and will ultimately be paid 63 dollars an hour compared to 39 currently. This remuneration is more than seven times higher than the federal hourly federal minimum wage in the United States, set at $7.25.
In the middle of the electoral campaign, Joe Biden, who rightly proclaims himself as the most “pro-union” president in the history of the United States, welcomed this decision. “Collective bargaining works and is essential to building a stronger economy, from the bottom up”he estimated.
The Democratic president was not able under his mandate to increase the federal minimum wage, unchanged since 2009, even when the Democrats controlled, in 2020, both houses of Congress. The increase had been achieved under George W. Bush and Barack Obama had changed nothing. Only the law of the market allowed a rise in wages.
Institutionalized overtime
Dockers’ wages are high. Until now, the maximum hourly wage was theoretically $39, or $81,000 per year. But overtime is institutionalized. A New York State survey found that 55% of New York Harbor dockworkers earned more than $150,000 in 2019-2020, and a third earned more than $200,000 per year. The increase granted on Thursday should cause a proportionate increase in salaries. According to employers, the average real salary for a full-time dockworker on the Pacific Coast is currently $233,000.
The employers’ offer is lower than the 77% increase demanded by the dockers. The power of the latter was considerable, less than a month before the presidential election. With automation, labor costs have become very low compared to ports’ turnover. The dockers negotiated in particular with the world freight giants (the Danish Maersk, the German Hapag-Lloyd, the French CMA-CGM). In a period of heightened nationalism in the United States, unions could count on the benevolence of political authorities towards non-American companies.
“I want to thank union workers, carriers and port operators for acting patriotically to reopen our ports and ensure the availability of essential supplies for recovery and rebuilding after Hurricane Helene”Mr. Biden said. Donald Trump estimated this week that the strike “would never have happened” if he had been in the White House.
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