US dockworker strike enters third day

By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

Hello!

It's all about the wave of industrial action in the United States and India across various industries in today's newsletter as the U.S. East and Gulf coast faces its first large-scale strike by dockworkers in nearly 50 years, while staff at Samsung Electronics protest over pay in India's Tamil Nadu state. 

A strike by 45,000 dockworkers halting shipments at U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast ports entered its third day on Thursday with no negotiations currently scheduled between the two sides, sources told Reuters.

The lack of progress is raising concern among those reliant on shipments that the disruption could be prolonged.

The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) union strike has blocked goods from food to automobile shipments across dozens of ports from Maine to Texas, which analysts warn will cost the economy billions of dollars a day.

The combined 36 East and Gulf Coast ports handle 57% of U.S. container volume.

Also on my radar today:

Port workers from the International Longshoremen's Association during a strike in the Virginia International Gateway in Portsmouth, Virginia, U.S. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez 

President Joe Biden's administration put pressure on U.S. port employers to raise their offer to secure a deal with dockworkers. Administration officials led by Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su have been urging both sides to return to the bargaining table.

The ILA, which represents 45,000 port workers, launched its strike on Tuesday after negotiations with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) for a new six-year contract collapsed.

The union is seeking a $5-per-hour wage hike each year over six years. The Biden administration wants USMX to raise its offer to dockworkers to secure a deal.

The strike, the ILA's first major stoppage since 1977, affects 36 ports - including New York, Baltimore and Houston - that handle a range of containerized goods ranging from bananas to clothing to cars.

European automakers are the most likely to be affected by the dockworkers strike at U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast ports because they rely heavily on those locations, but a longer walkout could prove "debilitating" to the entire sector, industry officials and analysts said.

Elsewhere, Boeing's largest union urged new CEO Kelly Ortberg to get more involved in contract negotiations to end a strike by around 33,000 U.S. West Coast workers, after the U.S. planemaker cut off their healthcare benefits.

"There is no reason the health benefits question could not have been punted on to allow more time for negotiations at the table," said Brian Bryant, president of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) and Aerospace Workers, which represents the striking workers.

The union is seeking a 40% pay rise and the restoration of a defined-benefit pension that was taken away in the contract a decade ago.

Talks between Boeing and the IAM's District 751, which is negotiating the deal, broke off last week and it is not clear when discussions will resume.

Over in India, police said they had released 912 Samsung Electronics workers and union members detained for almost a day for organizing a street protest, as a strike at the South Korean firm's home appliances plant in Tamil Nadu state entered its fourth week.

More than 1,000 workers have protested in a makeshift tent close to the factory near the city of Chennai since Sept. 9, demanding higher wages and union recognition.

Samsung workers earn 25,000 rupees ($300) on average each month and are demanding a raise of 36,000 rupees a month within three years, the labor group, Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) said.

The Tamil Nadu plant accounts for a fifth of Samsung's 2022-23 India annual revenue and employs roughly 1,800 workers.

The strike comes after Samsung's biggest union in South Korea held a four-day strike in August demanding higher wages and bonuses after talks with management fell through.

Apple employees work in an Apple Store at the Grand Central Terminal in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

Elodie Aba, senior legal researcher at the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, shares her thoughts on the intersection between workers' rights and a fair energy transition: 

"In addition to posing a threat to the crucial goal of a just energy transition, companies accused of violating communities' and workers' rights face costly delays, reputational impacts and legal consequences – including fines, hefty damages awards and orders to establish trust funds for harms. 

"Robust implementation of human rights responsibilities by business from the initial phases of any project can help build public trust in the energy transition, ensuring it can be fast because it is fair. 

"The private sector must urgently commit to shared prosperity, fair negotiations and a duty of care for the human rights of those directly impacted by the energy transition.

"The rising number of legal challenges makes it clear that disregard for the human rights of host and frontline communities is likely to derail the much-needed clean energy transition."

In keeping with today's workers' issues, we turn attention to London's Canary Wharf financial district, which wants to convert swathes of empty office space into other uses including hotels as it responds to faltering demand for its sprawl of office towers.

Canary Wharf is seen as a test case which may prove that the commercial real-estate problem after home working post-pandemic hammered commercial property values globally can be solved. Research suggests that remote work, when managed carefully, can significantly contribute to ESG goals related to gender equality, racial diversity and physical accessibility challenges.

Click here for the full story.

Loyiso Manga reacts as he holds a bottle of his Ubuntu Extra Virgin Olive Oil in Cape Town, South Africa. REUTERS/Esa Alexander

Today's spotlight highlights the plight of another worker as Loyiso Manga is seeking to join the small cohort of South Africa's Black olive oil producers who are trying to obtain investment.

He struggled to buy a farm because he could not secure funding, but eventually found a partner that supplies him with olive oil that he blends into his own signature product.

Manga's brand has started to take off, with bottles of his olive oil stocked by upmarket South African retailer Woolworths.

He wants to see more support from the government so he can grow his business into one that will last for generations.

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