Dockworkers return as ports re-open, but automation looms
Dockworkers have returned to work at ports across the East and Gulf coasts. Still, according to reports, their union warned that major issues involving automation remain after the contract expires early in 2025.
The Maritime Alliance increased its offer amid public pressure from the Biden administration to submit a contract offering higher wages. According to reports, the tentative agreement does not resolve differences between the union and shipping companies over the use of automated machinery. That will be a crucial focus of negotiations until January 15.
The MIC said that powersports companies may be affected as the strike began last week. The MIC Government Relations Office worked with a coalition of more than 270 other trade associations to urge President Biden to bring the parties to the negotiating table to end this strike.
Major terminals were open Sunday to help restart container handling after the three-day strike by 45,000 International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) members, which brought import cargo to a halt and forced dozens of ships to anchor outside marine gateways from New England to Texas.
As much as 1 million twenty-foot equivalent units’ worth of cargo likely would have been stuck outside the ports if the strike had lasted as long as one week.
The ILA suspended its work stoppage late Thursday (10/3) after tentatively agreeing to a 62% pay raise with port employers represented by the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX). Working with the assistance of Biden administration officials, the sides also agreed to extend the most recent master contract through January 15 and return to bargaining on a new six-year pact. At issue are benefits, container royalties and an insistence by the union that automation technology be barred from 14 container handling centers across 36 ports.
“While securing a substantial wage increase is an important part of the contract, we must also protect our historical work jurisdiction [over specific jobs] and prevent automation from replacing jobs,” ILA President Harold Daggett told members in an online message.
Terminal operators and shipping lines of the USMX have said they agree with the union on technology issues.
Sources: Freight Waves, ABC News
