Early Tuesday morning, thousands of U.S. dockworkers walked off the job, congesting ports on the East and Gulf coasts. The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), the union representing 50,000 U.S. dockworkers at 36 ports from Maine to Texas, was seeking a 77% increase in wages (over six years) and job protection with a ban on some types of automated equipment.
With only weeks to go before the 2024 presidential election and in the middle of holiday shopping season, the ILA found itself with unique leverage in negotiations with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), the organization bargaining on behalf of the dockworkers’ employers.
Tuesday marked the union’s first coastwide strike in nearly 50 years. The ILA played its ace in the hole.
Unsurprisingly, President Biden, wishing to avoid economic hardship weeks before the presidential election and amid Hurricane Helene relief efforts, pressured USMX “to negotiate a fair contract with the longshoremen that reflects the substantial contribution they’ve been making to our economic comeback.”
The last East and Gulf coastwide strike, in 1977, lasted seven days. In 2002, West Coast port workers went on strike for eleven days. But there is no reason to start hoarding milk and toilet paper just yet.
On Thursday evening, the ILA and USMX announced they had reached a tentative agreement to extend their previous contract (which expired on September 30, 2024) through January 15, 2025, temporarily suspending the dockworkers’ strike while the parties negotiate a new contract. ILA’s membership did not need to vote to approve the temporary suspension of the strike.
The tentative agreement included an increase in dockworkers’ wages by 61.5% (over six years), less than the 77% the union was demanding, but more than the 50% increase USMX had offered earlier this week.
The agreement does not address shipping companies increased usage of automated machinery. The union has concerns that the use of automated machinery will threaten future dockworkers jobs. This key point will almost certainly be a focus of negotiations between now and January 15.
Although it appears a major economic crisis was averted for now, there is still likely to be some fallout from the three-day strike. Many ports plan to reopen some time Friday, but ships continue to arrive faster than they can be unloaded. As of early Friday morning, Bloomberg reported more than 30 container ships anchored off the coast of Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, and New York. Industry experts estimate it will take 12 to 18 days for the ports to recover from the stoppage.
Written by Christina Charikofsky. Christina is a legal intern at Kollman & Saucier and a third-year student at the University of Baltimore School of Law.