The International Longshoreman’s Association (ILA) — representing more than 40,000 East Coast and Gulf Coast dockworkers — says that it has halted labor talks, in protest over the use of automated machinery at a handful of ports.
The ILA and the United Maritime Alliance (USMX) were scheduled to start negotiations on June 11, before the ILA called off the talks when it found out that an autonomous system was being used by Maersk and its terminal operator APM Terminals to process trucks at the Port of Mobile, Alabama, among other unnamed ports. The ILA claims that the use of the so-called “auto gate” system violates its existing agreement with the USMX, and that it will not pick up labor talks again until the issue is resolved.
“There’s no point trying to negotiate a new agreement with USMX when one of its major companies continues to violate our current agreement with the sole aim of eliminating ILA jobs through automation,” ILA chief negotiator Harold Daggett said in a June 10 news release.
Although the USMX has declined to comment on the situation, APM Terminals has asserted that it is “in full compliance” with the union’s contract, according to the The Wall Street Journal.
Automation has been a sticking point for dockworker unions on both coasts in the U.S., over worries that the proliferation of the technology could threaten jobs. In the meantime, the ILA and USMX have until September 30 to reach a new labor agreement, and if they don’t, Daggett has previously stated that the ILA would go on strike.
