Some 45,000 dock workers across the eastern U.S. and Gulf Coast walked off the job this morning in the first strike of its kind in almost 50 years. The International Longshoremen’s Association, which represents workers at 36 ports from Maine to Texas, is demanding higher wages and guarantees that jobs won’t be automated. This is Daniel Amaly, a worker who joined picket lines this morning at Port Elizabeth outside of New York City.

Daniel Amaly: “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. Employers push automation under the guise of safety, but it is really about cutting labor costs to increase their already exceptionally high profits.”

On Sunday, President Biden told reporters he will not invoke the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act, which would allow the president to break the strike by ordering an 80-day cooling-off period. We’ll have more on the port strike later in the broadcast.