The war of words continues as the strike by International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) workers against U.S. East and Gulf Coast port employers entered its second day.
The job action primarily affects container handling and roll-on, roll-off services at ports and terminals from Texas to Maine, and comes as importers enter the critical end-of-year retail selling season.
Marine terminals and container lines represented by the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) on Monday said they had offered the union a wage hike totaling 50% over the six years of the coastwise master contract.
In a statement posted to its website, the ILA rejected the new offer as inadequate “for many members who earn $20 an hour” in states such as New Jersey where the minimum wage is $15 per hour. The union said it is seeking better than a $5-per-hour pay hike over the life of the contract.
Neither side revealed specific pay amounts.
The union also pointed out that members must work six years to reach the top wage tier.
“USMX also overlooks the fact that two-thirds of our members are constantly on call, with no guaranteed employment if no ships are being worked,” the ILA said in its statement. “Our members qualify for benefits only based on the hours they worked the previous year, making them vulnerable if there’s a downturn in work. Despite this, there is no incentive within the progression system for hard-working members to advance faster. Regardless of their dedication, they must wait six full years to attain the top wage.”
The union said it was ready to negotiate a new contract in 2022, criticizing employers for waiting until the eve of a potential strike to make a new offer. The ILA also claimed the last master contract offer it received was in February 2023.
Wage increases negotiated in the previous contract have been wiped out by inflation, the ILA said, repeating its message that ocean lines based outside the U.S. refuse to share record profits with union employees.
“Furthermore, the ILA is steadfastly against any form of automation — full or semi — that replaces jobs or historical work functions. We will not accept the loss of work and livelihood for our members due to automation. Our position is clear: the preservation of jobs and historical work functions is non-negotiable.”
The union also is seeking its share of container royalties paid under the terms of the master contract. “These funds were intended to be a wage supplement paid out to our members, not to be shared with employers. The ILA demands 100% of its Container Royalty monies, along with other jurisdictional demands, to ensure our members receive what is rightfully theirs.”
The strike has led to increased container volume at West Coast ports, which in turn is bringing more intermodal traffic to BNSF Railway and Union Pacific. Both railroads have assured regulators they are prepared for the additional traffic. BNSF CEO Katie Farmer said in a letter to Surface Transportation Board Chairman Robert E. Primus that volume shifts to the West Coast had been underway for six weeks, but her railroad’s intermodal velocity had remained constant [see “BNSF tells regulators it’s set to handle ongoing surge …,” Trains News Wire, Sept. 30, 2024]. UP CEO Jim Vena said in a Sept. 30 letter to Primus that his railroad has been able to “successfully handle” a more than 20% increase in international volume so far this year [see “Union Pacific tells regulators …,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 1, 2024].
— This story originally appeared at FreightWaves.com, which is providing extensive coverage of the ILA strike.
The ILA is out of touch with reality, especially since it’s already been reported the average salary for members is $39/hr…and those that work container terminals do not work nearly as hard as those that work break bulk. As for automation, if I was running any of those ports the thing I would be working on now is developing a brand new fully automated container terminal completely separate from existing facilities just to spite the ILA.
Wonder how much US east coast volume can be diverted to the Canadian Port of Halifax. They have two state-of-the-art deepwater container terminals pus direct CN rail service to Chicago.