Dockworkers and longshoremen in east coast ports are now on strike in a major labor action with real consequences for the U.S. and international economy.

Thousands of members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) stopped working Tuesday, striking for a substantial compensation increase and protections from automation after years of record profits for the shipping companies that employ them.

The strike also raises political obstacles for President Biden, who has stood behind the ILA and the collective bargaining process despite pressure to freeze the strike.

Here are five things to know about the strike.

Longshoreman are seeking better pay, automation protection

At stake in the negotiations is a wage and compensation package from the US Maritime Alliance (USMX), an alliance of companies that operate East and Gulf Cost ports, that the union is so far rejecting.

“The Ocean Carriers represented by USMX want to enjoy rich billion-dollar profits that they are making in 2024, while they offer ILA Longshore Workers an unacceptable wage package that we reject,” the ILA said in a Monday statement.

President Biden called out the outsized profitability of port operators in a Monday statement.

“Ocean carriers have made record profits since the pandemic and in some cases profits grew in excess of 800 percent compared to their profits prior to the pandemic,” the president said in a Tuesday statement.

Corporate profits in general hit record highs in the aftermath of the pandemic following heaps of stimulus sent out by the government, and profits now represent roughly the largest share of value in the economy since the 1930s.

Automation is also a big issue for longshoremen, just as it is for workers in many different industries who have undertaken recent labor actions.

“I got some news for those same naïve people that think [automation is] a good thing,” ILA member Jack Pennington wrote in a Monday blog post.

“When the Big Three automakers decided to install robotic welders, painters,........

© The Hill