THE INTERNATIONAL Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) has initiated a strike that will see workers walk off the job across dozens of ports across the United States’ east coast and Gulf of Mexico.
An estimated 25,000 port workers will be involved in the work stoppage across 36 ports from Maine to Texas, in a move that could cause significant disruption to the country’s economy, depending on the duration of the strike.
The strike is the result of a breakdown in negotiations between the ILA and the US Maritime Alliance (USMX), a coalition representing employers of the east and Gulf Coast longshore industry, over a new Master Contract.
The ILA is calling for significant wage increases for its longshoremen (the American equivalent of stevedores), and the halt of automation projects at US terminals, the union having at current rejected the USMX’s wage increase offers.
The previous agreement, which ran for six years and covered port workers employed in container and roll-on/roll-off operations, expired at midnight on Monday, 30 September (Eastern Daylight Time, GMT -4 hours), as the ILA said the USMX “continues to block the path toward a settlement”, and accusing the alliance of seeming “intent on causing a strike”.
The stoppage marks the first coast-wide ILA strike since 1977, and since then the USMX says it and its predecessor organisations successfully negotiated ten contracts with the ILA without incurring a coast-wide work stoppage. The current strike is projected to affect approximately half of the United States’ ocean shipping.
US President Joe Biden said in September he did not intend to intervene to prevent the walkout if parties failed to secure a new contract, despite having the necessary power to do so legally under the Taft-Hartley Act, which allows the President to impose an 80 day “cooling off” period under which a strike or lockout is illegal, with President Biden stating he “doesn’t believe in Taft-Hartley”.
“In the last 24 hours, the USMX and ILA have traded counter offers related to wages,” the USMX said in a statement released on September 30 (US Time).
“The USMX increased our offer and has also requested an extension of the current Master Contract, now that both sides have moved off their previous positions.
“Our offer would increase wages by nearly 50 percent, triple employer contributions to employee retirement plans, strengthen our health care options, and retain the current language around automation and semi-automation.”
The ILA however has criticised the USMX for offering longshoremen an “unacceptable wage package”.
“The Ocean Carriers represented by USMX want to enjoy rich billion-dollar profits that they are making in 2024, while they offer ILA Longshore Workers an unacceptable wage package that we reject,” the ILA statement said.
“It’s disgraceful that most of these foreign-owned shipping companies are engaged in a ‘Make and Take’ operation.
“They want to make their billion-dollar profits at United States ports, and off the backs of American ILA longshore workers, and take those earnings out of this country and into the pockets of foreign conglomerates. Meanwhile, ILA dedicated longshore workers continue to be crippled by inflation due to USMX’s unfair wage packages.”
Last week, ILA president Harold Daggett said, “USMX knows what our bottom line with wages needs to be for our ILA rank-and-file to ratify a new Master Contract Agreement”.
The current US work stoppage mirrors certain industrial action currently taking place in Australia, as the Maritime Union of Australia is initiating operational restrictions and work stoppages across a number of port terminals for employees of Qube Ports.
The action was announced in early September after participating wharfies voted heavily in favour of the stoppages, amidst the MUA accusing Qube of “deliberately stalling and derailing” negotiations for a new bargaining agreement.
A spokesman for Qube said, “Regrettably, the CFMEU have unilaterally rejected Qube’s offers, without even giving workers a say.
“The reality is the CFMEU’s continued campaign of protected industrial action is currently costing employees who are engaging in this action around $2,500 on average in lost wages per month, but it costs union officials nothing.”More to come.
