USMX Files Unfair Labor Practice Charge Against East Coast Port Union
The U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) is hoping one last ditch effort can bring the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) back to the negotiating table ahead of a potential dockworker strike on Oct. 1.
The USMX, which represents terminal operators across the East and Gulf Coasts, as well as ocean carriers like Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), Maersk, CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd, filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) due to the union’s refusal to resume negotiations and “bargain on a new master contract.”
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With the unfair labor practice charge, the USMX is requesting immediate injunctive relief, which would require the union to resume bargaining. It is not clear how long this process would take to rule on the complaint, but it is unlikely that the board will take action before the Tuesday strike deadline.
Since last November, the ILA has been adamant it will strike if a new contract wasn’t settled by Sept. 30, and has maintained that stance throughout the year.
Both parties have sparred with each other through press releases, with the USMX saying Monday it has made additional attempts to engage with the ILA, but that there is “no indication” the union is interested in negotiating. The ILA, in counter, said a stalemate remains because of the employers’ “unacceptable” wage increase package.
The lack of movement by either party, combined with the lack of federal intervention by the Biden administration to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act, has made strike action by the ILA increasingly more likely.
Trade groups, consumers and lawmakers alike are all awaiting in hope that a deal gets done, while individual brands and retailers have had to scamper to pull orders forward or use alternate routes or transportation modes in recent months in anticipation of a work stoppage.
A strike would have major implications on the wider U.S. economy, with items that are shipped via container like automotive parts, semiconductors and furniture all expected to see delays if port operations came to a halt.
The five largest ports on the East and Gulf Coasts—New York & New Jersey; Savannah; Houston; Virginia and Charleston—processed about 24,766 40-foot containers of imports and exports valued at $2.7 billion each day in August, according to John McCown, senior fellow at the Center for Maritime Strategy.
According to McCown, 59.7 percent of total container volume in 2023, both imports and exports, passed through the East and Gulf Coast ports.
On top of the impact on commerce, port operations and container shipping would be thrown through a loop, with maritime trade advisory service Sea-Intelligence saying it would take six days to clear the backlog from just one day of strikes.
The two sides have remained at an impasse since June, when the union called off master contract talks due to the implementation of an automated gate at Alabama’s Port of Mobile. This system powers the gate that enables trucks to enter and exit a terminal and be autonomously processed without ILA labor.
Automation has been one of two major sticking points for ILA president Harold Daggett, with the union railing against the deployment of fully automated equipment for years amid concerns that it could cost union jobs.
Like most labor battles, wages for the dockworkers remains the other point of contention.
Various reports have indicated that the ILA is seeking a new six-year contract that includes a 77 percent pay increase for its 45,000 workers from Texas to Maine. Such a request would be well beyond the 32 percent increase that its West Coast dockworker counterparts, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), got when they signed and ratified a six-year contract last summer.
The ILA refuted these claims in its Monday statement, attributing the figure to the USMX.
“Deceiving the public with misleading calculations is not going to help get an agreement with the ILA,” said Daggett.
The reported hike comes as East Coast dockworkers have a far lower pay scale than their West Coast counterparts, with six-year veterans making $39 an hour as of Oct. 1, 2023. Conversely, longshoremen with 4,000 hours of experience on the West Coast earn $54.85 per hour as of June 29, with the hourly number increasing by $2 every year through 2027.
Another difference between the sides: the ILWU has a single coast-wide pension, while those East and Gulf Coast dockworkers don’t have consistent pension across the individual ports.
The Department of Labor reached out to the USMX ahead of the operator’s injunction request, having reached out every week for the past month to get updates on movement in the contract talks.
If a strike occurs, it would be the first coast-wide strike by the ILA since 1977, and would be the first work stoppage at U.S. ports since 2002 on the West Coast, when ILWU dockworkers were locked out for 11 days.
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