ILWU condemns Trump tariffs as “taxes” triggering job losses & urges resistance

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), which represents U.S. West Coast longshore workers, issued a blistering condemnation of President Trump’s tariffs, calling them “taxes” that will trigger job losses.

In its April 28^th statement, the ILWU said it “unequivocally condemns the recent tariffs that the Trump administration has imposed. Tariffs are taxes. These and other reckless, shortsighted policies have begun to devastate American workers, harm critical sectors of the economy, and line the pockets of the ultra-wealthy at the expense of hardworking families. The tariffs have also sown distrust among our allies and inflamed geopolitical tensions. These tariffs are nothing more than a direct attack on the working class and should be opposed outright.”[1]

The ILWU called for nation-wide resistance to the Trump tariffs: “We call on every worker, every union, and every person who believes in economic justice to stand with us against these Trump tariffs.”

Several maritime executives welcomed the ILWU statement hoping that labor support would give added credibility to concerns expressed by U.S. ports, truckers, importers and exporters who are urging President Trump take the economic fall-out from the tariffs into account.

The ILWU has a history of labor and political militancy dating back to 1934 when the workers successfully struck for better wages and working conditions for West Coast longshore workers. According to the ILWU history, workers who supported the 1934 strike: “elected new regional leaders to push the strike forward in defiance of both the employers and the ILA (International Longshoremen’s Association) officials. Prominent among the new faces was a San Francisco longshoreman named Harry Bridges, who was later elected president of the ILA’s Pacific Coast District and then president of the ILWU.”[2] During the 1930s, the ILWU’s success inspired other unions to strike and win better wages and working conditions for their workers. The ILWU’s motto is: “An Injury to One is an Injury to All.”

Sea-Intelligence Sees Substantial Container Volume Declines at U.S. Ports

Alan Murphy CEO, Sea-Intelligence, issued an advisory on April 16^th warning that Transpacific blank sailings to North American Pacific and Atlantic coast ports will be substantially lower projecting a 12% decline in container volumes to North American Pacific coast ports and a 14% decline for Atlantic coast ports: “For the 4-week period of weeks 16-19 (this week + the next three weeks), we have looked at the capacity scheduled at different points over the past six weeks, to … gauge the impact of tariffs. On Asia-North America West Coast, 1.43 million TEU was scheduled for deployment for weeks 16-19 in week 10. This remained consistent at week 11, and only slightly decreased to 1.40 million by week 12. In week 13, however, scheduled deployed capacity for weeks 16-19 dropped by -8% week/week to 1.29 million TEU, further dropping to 1.37 million TEU by week 15. Overall, this is -12% lower than what was scheduled six weeks ago. On Asia-North America East Coast, scheduled capacity for weeks 16-19 declined from 1.01 million TEU scheduled by week 10 to 867,000 TEU scheduled at week 15, which represents a -14% decline across the 6-week period.”[3]

U.S. container trade analyst John McCown, author of the McCown Report told AJOT that Sea-Intelligence may be understating the impact:” While nobody has an accurate crystal ball on the effect of these unprecedented catalysts, I think Sea-Intelligence is light on the volume impact.”

Job Losses Projected Due to Tariffs

The ILWU warned of the serious impact of the tariffs on jobs: “Hundreds of thousands of jobs are dependent on or connected to global trade. Constricted trade between the world’s two largest economies (China and the U.S.) could lead to devastating job losses for workers employed in the global supply chain. For example, last week, Ocean Network Express announced the cancellation of one of its shipping routes in response to these tariffs. Indirect effects of these tariffs, like rising fuel costs and increased costs of construction materials, have already led to layoffs as American businesses struggle to adapt.”

Impacting Workers with Higher Prices

The ILWU also criticized the Trump tariffs for increasing prices for Americans: “Prices for food, gas, and household goods are rising due to tariffs. According to some economic estimates, families will be forced to pay $1,600 more per year on basic goods and services due to these tariffs. Everyone knows that the United States is currently in a housing crisis, with sky-high rents and homeownership completely out of reach for millions of Americans. Tariffs that increase the costs of construction will only accelerate this crisis. Despite claims to the contrary, recent history indicates that the cost of these tariffs will be passed on to the American worker. In 2018 and 2019, when the U.S. imposed tariffs on Chinese imports, those tariffs did not meaningfully change the balance of US-China trade. Instead, the import prices were passed onto U.S. consumers.”

“America First” Trade Policy in Name Only

Finally, the ILWU called into question the reality of the Trump Administration’s “America First” policies stating: “They put American working people last. They will kill jobs, raise costs, and fuel economic instability that will ripple through every community in this country. It is undeniable that decades of free trade agreements have negatively impacted American workers and prioritized corporate profits at the expense of good paying, union jobs in America. However, this haphazard and destructive tariff plan is a sad excuse for a “fair trade” policy.”

Olvera Is New ILWU President

The ILWU’s call for action against the Trump tariffs comes as ex-U.S. Marine Bobby Olvera, Jr. takes over as the new ILWU President. Between 1991-1998, Olvera served in the U.S. Marine Corps.[4] In 2018, Olvera was elected as ILWU International Vice President and appointed to the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners in 2020. Between 2014-2017 Olvera served as President of ILWU Local 13, which represents almost 20,000 part- and full-time longshore workers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.