THE INTERNATIONAL Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) are reportedly set to resume negotiations ahead of the upcoming Master Contract deadline.
Media organisation Reuters has revealed that it understands the two sides will resume negotiations over a new Master Contract on 7 January, “according to a person familiar with the matter”.
The development would see the ILA, which represents some 45,000 dockwroekrs across the United States’ East and Gulf coast ports, return to the table with the USMX port employers coalition, after the most recent set of negotiations broke down in November last year.
The parties remain at an impasse over the issue of port automation (often referred to by the USMX as “modernization”), with the ILA firmly against port automation projects which it says would jeopardise the jobs of American port workers.
The current Master Contract extension ended the first port strike, with parties agreeing on wages, resulting in a reported 62% increase over six years, leaving the issue of automation as the main roadblock to a new contract.
The report of renewed negotiations comes as the 15 January deadline draws closer, when the current Master Contract will expire, with some shipping lines bracing for the possibility of another port strike.
Danish shipping line A.P. Moller-Maersk recently urged its customers to pick up laden containers and return empty containers at US East and Gulf coast ports before 15 January, as a proactive measure to mitigate any potential disruptions at terminals from a new strike.
“Our teams are actively developing contingency plans to minimize the impact should a labor disruption occur,” Maersk said in an advisory on 31 December.
German shipping line Hapag-Lloyd also reacted to the situation, stating it is introducing a Work Disruption Surcharge and Work Interruption Destination Surcharge, effective 20 January, in the event of a strike.
“This surcharge covers additional costs from labor disruptions, strikes, slowdowns, unrest, congestion, and other unforeseen events that may delay operations and incur extra handling, storage, and feeder service costs,” the shipping line said in a statement.
The 15 January deadline will occur just five days prior to the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.
President-elect Trump recently met with the ILA’s President Harold J. Daggett and executive vice president Dennis A. Daggett, and after which appeared to declare support for the union in a social media post.
The President-elect said at the time “Foreign companies have made a fortune in the U.S. by giving them access to our markets. They shouldn’t be looking for every last penny knowing how many families are hurt”.
“They’ve got record profits, and I’d rather these foreign companies spend it on the great men and women on our docks, than machinery, which is expensive, and which will constantly have to be replaced.
“For the great privilege of accessing our markets, these foreign companies should hire our incredible American Workers, instead of laying them off, and sending those profits back to foreign countries.”
President-elect Trump also claimed to have studied automation, and “know just about everything there is to know about it”.
The USMX previously stated that it believes port modernisation is a necessity, and claimed modern technology would deliver more jobs, rather than eliminate them.
