Above photo: Members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) after negotiations with USMX were halted in June 2024. ILA.
Dockworkers union and longshore industry at impasse at the bargaining table over use of automation.
Months after a strike numbering in the tens of thousands, US dockworkers throughout the East Coast could once again walk off the job just before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.
The October strike of dockworkers organized by the The International Longshoremen’s Association, the ILA’s first strike since 1977, ended after three days with an agreement with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) to extend the master contract until January 15, and return to the bargaining table to continue negotiations. The strike in early October resulted in a tentative agreement between USMX and ILA dockworkers which secured a 62% wage hike over six years.
Before the strike in October J.P. Morgan Chase estimated that the strike could cost between USD 3.8 billion and USD 4.5 billion per day.
The ILA is “the largest union of maritime workers in North America, representing 85,000 longshore workers along the East Coast, Gulf Coast, Puerto Rico, Great Lakes, and major US rivers.” If another strike takes place, major ports will be affected throughout the East Coast, including the Port of New York and New Jersey, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah, Miami, Tampa, New Orleans, Mobile, and Houston. These ports handle between 43% and 49% of all US imports.
The ILA and USMX are currently at an impasse over the use of automation at ports, which “jeopardizes jobs, threatens national security, and puts the future of the workforce at risk,” according to the ILA.
USMX, which represents employers in the longshore industry, claims that automation at ports “serve to bolster US industries by creating supply chains that are more resilient and efficient, which keeps cargo moving and helps manage costs and improves reliability for American companies that depend upon our operations every minute of every day.”
Workers’ concerns over the increased use of automation by employers mirrors issues at play in other recent labor struggles, including those of Hollywood writers and actors concerned with the use of artificial intelligence in the industry.
The ILA claims that the fight is not just about them, but instead “it’s about all workers.”
“Automation isn’t just coming for dockworkers; it’s coming for everyone,” the union writes. “Blue-collar or white-collar, no one is safe from the corporate drive to cut labor costs and fatten bottom lines through automation and artificial intelligence.”