The start of October has brought a little election surprise for Donald Trump and Kamala Harris to handle. That is the announcement of a strike from the International Longshoremen’s Association union (ILA), which covers around 45,000 workers at 36 unique ports, including major ports in Boston, New York, Miami, Tampa, New Orleans, and Houston. A halt of activity due to an ILA strike will create a major strain on the supply chain of many industries, which has only just recently recovered in the past year from the 2020 pandemic.

It’s estimated that the strike will cost the American economy around $5 billion a day, and will threaten many jobs across industries and not just those within the ILA itself. The union is reportedly seeking a wage hike somewhere in the ballpark of 70%, and they have rejected a wage hike of around 50% prior to the official strike.

“We are prepared to fight as long as necessary, to stay out on strike for whatever period of time it takes, to get the wages and protections against automation our ILA members deserve,” the ILA has shared with reporters on the matter. ILA spokesperson Harold Daggett also added that they do not view themselves as the greedy ones here, saying, “Everything that comes in this country comes from the containers off these ships that my men work. And I want the world to know it. Don’t come after us saying we’re greedy. Go after those greedy b*stards that own these companies in Europe.”

Donald Trump, who has been making serious inroads with the blue collar working class, recently shared sympathies with the workers on strike, laying the blame at the feet of Kamala Harris and Joe Biden for their inflation crisis. He argues that inflation is ultimately what’s hurting all parties involved here, particularly the workers who are just trying to get by.

Former President Trump shared in a Fox News interview that the strike was caused by the “massive inflation” that was “created by the Harris-Biden” administration. “The strike was caused by the massive inflation that was created by the Harris-Biden regime,” Donald Trump suggested in the Fox News exclusive interview. Former President Trump added to his comments sympathies for the workers, saying they were “decimated” by the inflation.

“Everybody understands the dockworkers because they were decimated by this inflation, just like everybody else in our country and beyond,” Donald Trump added in the interview with Fox News. Furthermore, a Trump ally, Kip Tom, pleaded with both parties involved in negotiations to come to reasonable terms quickly so that uninvolved workers are not harmed due to the strike.

“We don’t need another hit right now. And this is definitely going to have an impact on agriculture,” Kip Tom, the former U.S. ambassador during the Trump administration has shared with Fox News on the issue. “They’re not going to process more chickens because they don’t have them sold or they don’t have a place for them to go. They’re a perishable item. We can get into beef, pork and dairy at the same time. So, it just backs up the entire supply chain. It comes back to the farmer,” he added.

While inflation may not be the only factor at play here, Donald Trump is right to point out how it’s a strong variable that is likely firing up the workers for the ILA union because of how devastating it has been. Workers are watching their paychecks vanish just trying to pay for grocery bills, which is a strain on paychecks. It makes workers feel like their paychecks are getting smaller and smaller.

Donald Trump Surges In Blue-Collar & Union Worker Support

Donald Trump is easily the most successful Republican in terms of closing the gap in voting support from blue-collar and union workers from the last forty years. He hasn’t just closed the gap either, he’s easily beating Kamala Harris with this key voting bloc by double digits in some cases.

CNN’s data analyst Harry Enten has recently shared data showing that Donald Trump is up an eye-watering 31 points with trade school grads over Kamala Harris. That is an unbelievable gap that never existed until the Trump-era came into focus back in 2016 and shook up the whole political spectrum.

Trump has more working class support than any GOP presidential candidate in a generation. He's on track for the best performance among union voters in 40 years. He's up 31 points among trade school grads.

He's doing 17 pts better among nonwhite non-college voters than in 2020. pic.twitter.com/0ObrWWNzYf

— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) September 30, 2024

Last month in September, the major union known as the Teamsters made the ground-breaking announcement that they would not be endorsing a candidate for President for the first time since 1996. The Kamala Harris campaign was expecting this endorsement to help her in the Rust Belt swing states like Michigan and Pennsylvania.

That will only make matters worse as Donald Trump is expected to win about 60% of the vote from Teamsters union members who are going to cast a ballot in the upcoming Presidential election. That’s a level of support from union workers no Republican Presidential candidate can boast to have enjoyed except Donald Trump for the last forty to fifty years.

Strong union support will help Donald Trump’s cause of trying to peel off at least one of the three states Kamala Harris is relying on to win this November in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Recent polling from the Trafalgar group, one of the most accurate pollsters in the 2020 cycle, is currently showing Donald Trump up three points in the state of Pennsylvania. Michigan and Wisconsin also remain toss-ups based on the most recent polling averages.

Do you think Donald Trump is better for working-class Americans than Kamala Harris? Let us know in the comments below.