The dock workers’ strike could mean big wage gains but could further disrupt the fragile supply chain.
Workers at ports on the East and Gulf Coasts have agreed to go back to the docks — at least for now. Dock workers with the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) went on strike Tuesday following a breakdown in negotiations between the ILA and the organization of international shipping companies that employ them. Now, they are back to work as negotiations on a new contract continue.
Approximately 45,000 workers walked off the job at 12:01 am Tuesday, making it the most significant strike the union has engaged in since 1977. ILA laborers stopped work after their six-year contract with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) expired, shutting down 14 ports, including some of the country’s largest. That could have had a monumental impact on the US economy, with a weeks-long strike bringing higher prices and goods shortages ahead of the presidential election and holiday season.
The striking workers shut down some of the country’s biggest ports, like the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Overall, the affected ports handle about 50 percent of the imports and exports to the US.
The pause in the strike is an opportunity for the ILA and USMX to come back to the bargaining table and try to negotiate a new six-year contract. Workers will be covered by their old contract until next January, though the two sides have apparently made progress on a wage hike: The dockworkers have reportedly secured a 62 percent raise over the course of the new contract.What is the International Longshoremen’s Association? Why are its members striking?
The ILA represents the approximately 45,000 workers who manage the unloading of massive shipping containers from large cargo ships. Eventually, inventory from the ships makes its way to warehouses, store shelves, and factories. The members work at ports up and down the East Coast as far north as Maine, as well as Gulf Coast ports in Louisiana and Texas.
“There’s a strike over two main issues,” Art Wheaton, director of labor studies at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, said. “One is money. Two is technology.”
The union has demanded a significant pay raise for dock workers over the six-year life of the contract, as well as increased contributions to their retirement plan and a say in the role of automation in their industry. Some reports indicate the union asked for as much as a 77 percent pay increase; the most recent proposal from USMX offered a 50 percent increase over the life of the contract.
