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ILA leaders are seeking a complete ban on automation in the union ’ s new contract . Spencer Platt / Getty Images
“ Unless an agreement is reached on the ILA ’ s very vocal demands to limit automation , disruption and uncertainty could return in January ,” Peter Friedmann , executive director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition , warned in an Oct . 4 statement . “ Some who shifted to the West Coast gateways may stay there until the automation negotiations are resolved .”
The deal on wages that ended the strike on Oct . 3 was merely “ provisional ,” according to one management source , just one element of those several others that still need to be negotiated between now and the new deadline of Jan . 15 . Yet several factors suggest agreement on those points in upcoming negotiations , which are expected to resume within weeks , will be difficult to achieve , according to sources .
The United States Maritime Alliance ( USMX ) and the ILA have not sat down face to face since the union suspended negotiations last June , despite over 10 failed attempts by the USMX to restart talks . The ILA ’ s lack of response led the USMX on Sept . 26 to file an unfair labor practices case with the National Labor Relations Board seeking to force the union back to the table .
The inability of the USMX to get formal negotiations restarted continued throughout an intensive two-week stretch leading up to the strike and over the course of the three-day work stoppage , during which what was described as multiple efforts by employers to discuss the wage issue directly with the union , rather than through Biden administration intermediaries , never resulted in face-to-face dialogue .
‘ Absolute ’ automation ban
With the 62 % wage increase being an unprecedented offer to the union , the USMX will be hardpressed to give in on other key demands the ILA is
“ Unless an agreement is reached on the ILA ’ s very vocal demands to limit automation , disruption and uncertainty could return in January .”
making , sources say , especially as the offer merely reinforces the longstanding disconnect in the view of ocean carriers between high US port costs primarily driven by longshore labor and low productivity .
That is why , sources say , the USMX will do its best to resist the union ’ s demand for a rolling back of employers ’ automation rights as enshrined in prior contracts . The ILA is seeking “ absolute , airtight language that there be no automation or semi-automation ,” according to ILA President Harold Daggett , a longtime vocal opponent of automation . If that language is agreed to in a final contract , it would disallow future implementation of semi-automated equipment installed at ports in Virginia and at Global Container Terminal in Bayonne , NJ .
The reason the USMX will resist that demand is to preserve growth opportunities in the US market . Carriers want to be able to increase volumes , but with hardly any new terminals being built — Charleston ’ s Hugh K . Leatherman Terminal , which opened in 2021 , was the first new US container terminal since 2009 — a key means of facilitating container capacity growth is by densifying terminals , and the only way to do that is through automation .
That is not to say that every port aspires to automate ; most www . joc . com October 21 , 2024 | Journal of Commerce 13