At the beginning of October, U.S. dock workers began the first large-scale strike in nearly 50 years. The strike started after contract negotiations broke down between the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) and the International Longshoremen’s Association, the union representing U.S. dockworkers. For three long days, shipping containers were left at ports, stalling a majority of trade in the United States.
This disruption grabbed the attention of the national media. Coverage focused on the large negative effects the strike would bring, billions of dollars lost per day, jobs threatened and increased inflation were all dangers highlighted by the media.
While the attention demonstrated how important dock workers are and created social pressure that caused corporations to agree to negotiations, journalists did not cover the union in the kindest light. Many articles I read had anti-union tones, directly blaming the union for causing the strikes. As a daughter of a union worker, these sentiments need to stop and blame must assigned to the corporations that refuse to fulfill workers’ rights.
Language against unions can be one of two things: intentional or unintentional. The intentional is sparked by direct opposition towards unions, seeing union workers as greedy malcontents or above the common worker. A repeat perpetrator of these sentiments is Fox News. We can see an egregious example in their reporting on the recent Boeing strikes with an article titled “Boeing strike costliest in economic damage so far in 2024.”
The article focused heavily on the damages to the company and the country because of the strike but did little to report on the union’s fight. Instead, it focused on how the strike was harmful and painted the Boeing union in a terrible light.
However, news sources like Fox News are expected to take extreme views on politics and affairs within the nation—meaning that most people take a critical view of their reporting of events. The true danger comes in the unintentional, where journalists’ wording directs the blame on union workers.
During the recent East Coast dock strikes, Reuters wrote that “US dockworkers strike, halting half the nation’s ocean shipping.” Titles like this focus on dockworkers’ correlation with the strike, faulting them on the halting of half the nation’s ocean shipping. The LA Times conducts a similar line of reasoning having titled their article “Dockworker strike shuts down ports in the East, threatening big hit to the U.S. economy.”
Neither of these titles are wrong or inaccurate, but it doesn’t tell the full story of why the strike happened. The USMX’s inability to meet or agree with the International Longshoremen’s Association about wages is what caused the strike. Economic downturns because of the strikes are not because of workers being petty or bratty, but of corporate greed.
Not only do these types of headlines not tell the full story, but they give into the negative union sentiments corporations are trying to present. Union busting intends to shift the view of unions as burdensome and negative to the U.S. economy, preventing workers from gaining collective power.
In the case of the dockworkers, the USMX attempted to employ a union-busting tactic focused on denying rights through delays. When corporations delay, they are focused on any method to delay negotiations or contract agreements and exhausting workers even if it means crossing legal lines.
Since they are attempting to reduce union support, any potential penalties are viewed as worth the risk. Corporations can survive large economic downturns and can enter long stalemates to break union resolve or public perceptions.
By focusing on the strikers and using language that puts the strikers at direct fault for strikes, they are giving into what corporations like the USMX desire. The negative sentiments associated with strikes and shifting blame towards unions.
If the USMX simply met the needs of the worker and came to agreements in a timely manner—there would have not been a need to strike. But profit-seeking corporations strive to break these unions to pad their bottom lines.
Ultimately it is not the workers’ sentiments that cause these major strikes but the corporation’s inability to negotiate. Unions are advocates for workers and should have a fairer reflection of their work in the media. Therefore, whether intentional or unintentional, journalists need to consider the workers and avoid giving into the anti-union sentiments corporations are hoping to spawn.
Lily Fitzgerald can be reached at [email protected]
