Work stoppage could impact this year’s holiday shopping season.
Tens of thousands of dock and maritime workers could hit the picket lines on Oct. 1, the largest union of maritime workers in North America confirmed in a Sept. 30 statement.
The International Longeshoremen’s Association (ILA) posted on social media that many of the union’s members will strike at 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 1, when the current collective-bargaining agreement expires.
Union officials say they plan to hit the picket lines at three dozen facilities spread across all Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports from Maine to Texas, which handle 49 percent of U.S. container volume.
“The ocean carriers represented by USMX [United States Maritime Alliance] 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 said. “ILA longshore workers deserve to be compensated for the important work they do keeping American commerce moving and growing.”
According to an official ILA press release, the union’s key demands include wage increases, better health care and retirement benefits, protections against automation, and all funds earned through the industry’s Container Royalty.
Of the 85,000 members, there are approximately 50,000 workers who are covered by the Master Contract, meaning they could walk off the job at midnight.
ILA officials accuse the USMX, a nonprofit association representing East and Gulf Coast longshore industry employers, of failing to address “a half-century of wage subjugation where ocean carriers profits skyrocketed from millions to mega-billion dollars, while ILA longshore wages remained flat.”
Last week, the USMX filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board requesting the ILA resume bargaining and negotiating a deal. The USMX accused the ILA of repeatedly refusing “to come to the table and bargain on a new Master Contract.”
If a strike goes ahead, it will be the first East and Gulf Coast strike since 1977. That year’s work stoppage lasted for 45 days.
President Joe Biden told reporters in Delaware over the weekend that he will not intervene in the matter.
By Andrew Moran
