The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) reiterated its willingness to go on strike if a new collective bargaining agreement isn’t reached with the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX)
by the end of September.
The ILA is wrapping up a two-day “marathon” of meetings on September 5, where it’s briefing its wage scale committee on its proposed contract terms and preparing its members for the possibility of a work stoppage at East and Gulf Coast ports. In a video released at the start of the week’s meetings, ILA president Harold Daggett said that the union “most definitely will hit the streets on October 1 if we don’t get the kind of contract we deserve.”
“Mark my words, we’ll shut them down,” he stressed.
Read More: Twin Strikes at U.S. Ports, Canada Railways Would ‘Create Chaos in North America’
The ILA and the USMX have been locked in a standoff for months, after talks were halted in June when the union discovered that automated systems were being used to process trucks at a handful of ports. The ILA has not returned to the negotiating table since then, despite filing for mediation with a federal arbiter on August 19, according to CNBC. Speaking after the ILA president in the video released on September 4, ILA executive vice president labeled the use of automation at ports a “cancer,” adding that the union and USMX remain “very, very far apart” in negotiations.
If the ILA and USMX can’t reach a deal in time, workers at East and Gulf Coast ports plan to go on strike on October 1. Freight logistics platform Xeneta says that companies are already rerouting cargo to the West Coast ahead of that deadline, with the total share of U.S. imports for West Coast ports increasing from 57.7% in Q4 of 2023 to 60% in Q2 of 2024. CNBC estimates that East Coast ports process 43% of all U.S. imports annually.
