A tentative agreement between the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and the US Maritime Alliance averts a potential strike on January 15th. The agreement protects existing jobs and establishes a framework for technology implementation that aims to modernize ports while ensuring job creation and supply chain strength. Automation was a key negotiation point, with the union securing protections against widespread adoption.
A tentative agreement between a dockworkers union and a shippers association was announced Wednesday night, averting a Jan. 15 strike deadline. The agreement, which includes some 45,000 workers at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports, was reached after talks broke down in November over the alliance proposing more automation. Automation was the remaining issue to be worked out after salaries and other issues were covered in the agreement that ended the October strike.
Rutgers university Professor of Labor Studies and Employment relations Will Brucher predicted the union would prevail when interviewed Wednesday. Support by President-Elect Donald Trump against further automation at ports was also cited as a factor by Brucher and Harold Daggett, ILA International president, in his statement. Daggett cited a face-to-face meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida on Dec. 12 and a subsequent phone call with the alliance “as the chief reason the ILA was able to win protections against automation.” Trump posted a statement afterward on his Truth social media account after the meeting saying the “money saved by automation is nowhere worth the amount of hurt and distress and harm it causes for American workers.” While contract details haven’t been released, Brucher said the ILA already had strong language about automation and job guarantees in the existing contract. “They’re certainly not going to give up anything they already have,” he said. “Even if there is some way the technology is agreed to, the language around protecting jobs, about operating and maintaining new equipment, all that is in place.” “What I’d imagine will happen is that you’ll have even stronger, more precise language than they already have,” Brucher said. At issue was full automation of rail and Mounted Gantry cranes that lift containers between land and ships, and the limited available land at ports for expansion. The alliance said in a Dec. 3 statement that port operators want to increase the use of technology to “densify” East and Gulf coast ports to handle more cargo because there is a lack of new land to expand. Union officials contend the alliance wanted to cut the labor force to maximize profits since operation of those cranes now is 95% automated and only the last movement of a container to and from a truck chassis is under human control. Another factor was retailers had less time to prepare for a Jan. 15 strike than they did last year, when they had several months lead time to get shipments in stock before the October strike, Brucher said. “One problem is wholesalers and retailers want just in time shipping they don’t want to be stuck with inventory and now they had less time to prepare for a strike.” he said. “Any business that relies on imported consumer goods will really feel it.”“Providing certainty with a new contract and avoiding further disruptions is paramount to ensure retail goods arrive in a timely manner for consumers,” Jonathan Gold, National Retail Federation vice president of Supply Chain and Customs Policy, said in a statement. “The agreement will also pave the way for much-needed modernization efforts, which are essential for future growth at these ports and the overall resiliency of our nation’s supply chain.
DOCKWORKERS UNION AUTOMATION STRIKE AGREEMENT PORTS SUPPLY CHAIN LABOR RELATIONS
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