Dockworkers Cancel Bargaining, Threaten Strike at U.S. Seaports
Dockworkers at America’s East Coast and Gulf Coast seaports canceled labor talks that were due to start this week and raised the possibility of a strike later this year at some of the country’s biggest trade gateways.
The International Longshoremen’s Association canceled talks set for Tuesday in Newark, N.J., to protest the use of automated machinery at some ports, which the union says violates prior labor agreements.
The withdrawal from the bargaining table marks a harsh start to negotiations aimed at securing a contract covering more than 45,000 dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas ahead of the current agreement’s expiration Sept. 30. A walkout at that time would come as goods are flowing into the country ahead of the end-of-year holidays and threaten the American economy just ahead of the presidential election.
The union’s combative leader Harold Daggett has previously vowed his members will strike if they don’t secure a new contract before the current agreement expires on Sept. 30.
“Harold Daggett is again alerting all locals to be prepared for a strike on October 1st,” an ILA spokesman said.
The National Retail Federation, a trade group whose members include some of the country’s biggest importers, urged the sides to negotiate and called on the Biden administration to shepherd the talks. “It is critical that significant disruptions, including labor strikes, are avoided in order to minimize any negative economic impact,” said Jonathan Gold, the NRF’s vice president for supply chain.
The union says it canceled the talks after it found that a terminal operator owned by Danish carrier A.P. Moller-Maersk was using autonomous equipment to process trucks at ports including Alabama’s Port of Mobile. Union leaders say they won’t proceed with the negotiations until the issue is resolved.
Representatives for the U.S. Labor Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.
A spokesman for Maersk’s terminal operator, APM Terminals, said the company “is in full compliance” with the union contract. “We are disappointed that the ILA has chosen to make selected details of ongoing negotiations public in an effort to create additional leverage for their other demands,” he said.
The United States Maritime Alliance, which represents ocean carriers and port terminal operators across the East and Gulf coasts, declined to comment.
The rancorous beginning to the contract negotiations at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports follows a six-year agreement last year between employers at West Coast ports and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union after more than a year of contentious talks that prompted the Biden administration to step in to broker a deal.
Automation has been a flashpoint for longshore labor talks on both coasts.
Daggett has vowed to stem the tide of automated machinery being used to lift, carry and stack containers on docks around the world. In a speech last year he accused the Biden administration of standing by while foreign-owned carriers use the machinery “to eliminate good paying American jobs.”
People familiar with the negotiations say most issues specific to local ports have been resolved, but some issues, such as automation, are unresolved. The talks due to take place Tuesday would have been the beginning of coastwide discussions over issues such as wages.
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