ILA and USMX at Loggerheads as Coastwide Port Strike Looms

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) are locked in a contentious negotiation over a new Master Contract, with a potential coastwide strike threatening to disrupt operations at Atlantic and Gulf Coast container ports.

The current contract, covering 45,000 dockworkers, is set to expire on September 30, 2024. If no agreement is reached, the ILA has firmly stated its intention to strike beginning October 1.

Despite USMX’s claims of communication breakdown, both parties have engaged in discussions in recent weeks, according to the ILA.

However, the core issue remains unresolved: USMX’s wage increase offer, which the ILA deems unacceptable.

“USMX knows what our bottom line with wages needs to be for our ILA rank-and-file to ratify a new Master Contract Agreement,” said Harold J. Daggett, ILA’s International President and Chief Negotiator. He added, “My ILA members are not going to accept these insulting offers that are a joke considering the work my ILA longshore workers perform, and the billion dollar profits the companies make off the backs of their labor.”

USMX counters that despite intervention from federal agencies and their willingness to negotiate, talks have stalled. “We remain prepared to bargain at any time, but both sides must come to the table if we are going to reach a deal,” the employers group said Monday.

A key point of contention is the scale of wage increases. The ILA refutes USMX’s claim that their demands amount to a 75% increase over a possible six-year agreement. Daggett clarified, “Even a $5.00 an hour increase in wages for each year of a six-year agreement, only amounts to an average annual increase of approximately 9.98 percent.”

As the deadline approaches, the potential for a coastwide strike that could significantly impact East Coast and Gulf Coast port operations looms large and seems increasingly inevitable.

The strike would come at a critical time for the supply chain, potentially disrupting holiday shipments, manufacturing supply chains, and agricultural exports. The contract in question covers six of the ten busiest U.S. ports, which collectively handle over 13 million containers annually and account for up to 56% of inbound containers in any given month. According to the National Retail Federation, U.S. port imports have consistently exceeded 2 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) since April. September is projected to reach 2.31 million TEUs—import levels unseen since 2022.

Last week, a coalition of 177 trade associations has appealed to President Biden for immediate intervention, warning of “severe economic consequences” if a deal isn’t reached. There’s also the question of political risk, with the potential strike coming just one month before the November’s U.S. Presidential election. However, the Biden administration has stated it does not intend to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act to prevent a strike, and instead is encouraging both parties to remain at the bargaining table and negotiate in good faith.