By Paul Berger
Unionized dockworkers resumed labor talks with employers across a swath of U.S. ports this week, with a deadline on a new contract two months away and both sides still divided over the use of automation.
The two sides are racing to reach a deal ahead of the expiration of the current contract on Jan. 15, when dockworkers could stage a repeat of a three-day strike last month that shut down ports from Maine to Texas.
Hanging over the talks is the change in presidential administration that will take effect Jan. 20, with shipping industry officials seeing the new Trump administration as more sympathetic to maritime employers than the Biden administration.
The International Longshoremen's Association and employers were supposed to meet in New Jersey over four days this week. The union said Wednesday that talks broke down Tuesday because of employer plans to expand the use of semi-automated machinery at ports.
"Automation, whether full or semi, replaces jobs and erodes the historical work functions we've fought hard to protect," the union said.
The United States Maritime Alliance, which represents the container lines and terminal operators that employ the dockworkers, said it hopes talks will continue soon. The group said the union is "insisting on an agreement that would move our industry backward by restricting future use of technology that has existed in some of our ports for nearly two decades."
Shipping industry officials are trying to avoid a repeat of a three-day strike in October that shut down dozens of ports across the East and Gulf coasts, including major gateways for imports of food, vehicles, construction materials and clothes.
That strike ended after port employers agreed to a tentative deal on wages that raises pay for ILA dockworkers by 62% over six years. The employers made the offer under pressure from senior Biden administration officials and the president, who publicly pointed to the huge profits ocean carriers made during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Shipping industry officials at the time said the deal, which would raise the hourly rate for ILA port workers to $63 from $39 over the course of the contract, would require concessions from the union such as the greater use of automation at ports.
Employers say automation is needed to boost port efficiency and to drive ever-growing volumes of containers through terminals that are hemmed in by cities.
The ILA's pugnacious leader, Harold Daggett, has been threatening for more than a year to use aggressive tactics to block the expanded use of automation across the maritime industry.
The union on Wednesday said automation doesn't improve port productivity. It said it wouldn't hesitate to strike again if necessary.
The National Retail Federation recently raised its import forecasts for the end of this year saying importers are rushing in goods early as a hedge against the risk of another strike. It expects importers to bring in the equivalent of 2.15 million containers in November, a 13% increase from a forecast one month earlier.
Write to Paul Berger at paul.berger@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 13, 2024 16:23 ET (21:23 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comments