MORNING NEWSBREAK  | Roughly 45,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) walked out on strike for the first time since 1977 early Tuesday morning in a standoff over wages, benefits and job security with the U.S. Maritime Alliance. 

Among the strikers are about 700 Lowcountry workers with the ILA Local 1422 in Charleston. 

The union is seeking higher wages and a ban on the use of automated cranes, gates and container-handling vehicles required to load and offload cargo.

“The ILA is fighting for respect, appreciation, and fairness in a world in which corporations are dead set on replacing hard working people with automation,” the ILA Local 1422 wrote in a statement.

Charleston’s Kenneth Riley, international vice president of the ILA and a member of  ILA Local 1422, said the public can expect picketing longshoremen at the Leatherman, Wando Welch and Columbus Street terminals in Charleston.

“This is not us against them. It’s basically just what is right and what is fair,” Marquett Mapp, a member of the ILA Local 1422, told WCSC-TV at a rally on Monday. “This is long overdue. During the pandemic we never stopped working. We are essential workers.”

Trade experts say a short strike would cause little lasting damage but that a weekslong stoppage could lead to shortages, higher prices and even layoffs.

“How this could really affect Charleston is consumer goods, automobile exports, agricultural exports, manufacturing, imports and tourism,” said author and consultant Thomas Fellows told WCIV TV. “If this goes on for more than a few days, there’s gonna be significant backlog, delayed goods, rising costs of all of those things.”

In other headlines:

CP NEWS: State officials scramble to respond to Helene’s ‘unprecedented damage.’  Just days after Hurricane Helene tore a path of destruction through South Carolina leaving at least 29 dead, state government and utility officials are scrambling to reopen roads, deliver emergency services and get the lights back on for almost 625,000 residents who are still without power. 

CP FOOD: New Charleston food festival brought teasers and Southern bites. The Food & Wine Classic in Charleston debuted this past weekend, bringing with it a slew of seminars, tasting demos, specialty dinners, after parties and, of course, the requisite tasting tent (aka the Grand Tasting Pavilion).

HELENE: Death toll climbs to 29 in SC as flooding, power outages continue. The confirmed death toll from Tropical Storm Helene in South Carolina rose to 29, Gov. Henry McMaster announced Monday. Federal recovery aid was expedited for the Palmetto State as flooding and power outages continue in the storm’s wake.

Charleston Co. jail debuts new contemporary restoration unit. The Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center in Charleston County unveiled its first-ever on-site contemporary restoration unit Sept. 30. It’s part of a statewide effort to expand the Department of Mental Health’s ability to help mentally ill people accused of crimes gain competency to stand trial and improve the efficiency of South Carolina’s criminal justice system.

113 Charleston-area fugitives arrested in joint U.S. Marshal operation. U.S. Marshals recently completed an operation in partnership with local law enforcement that arrested over 100 individuals wanted for violent crimes such as homicide, forcible sexual assault, robbery and aggravated assault with a firearm in the Charleston area.

Federal grant approved to improve road safety in North Charleston. The city is being awarded $200,000 from the department’s Safe Streets and Roads grant for a comprehensive road safety action plan, something the city currently does not have.

Help keep the City Paper free.
No paywalls.
No subscription cost.
Free delivery at 800 locations.

Help support independent journalism by donating today.

[empowerlocal_ad sponsoredarticles]