Negotiations to secure master contracts for port workers on the US East and Gulf coasts have been put on ice again, as the risk of a January strike heightens.
October’s strike was suspended just three days in, when a tentative agreement on salaries was reached. Workers agreed to return to work until January 15th, while the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) negotiated “all other outstanding issues”.
However, talks broke down between the two parties last week due to port automation. A USMX spokesperson said “While we had positive progress on a number of issues, we were unable to make significant progress on our discussions that focused on a range of technology issues.”
The ILA opposes both automation and semi-automation, believing that this would result in job cuts, while USMX say that modernisation is essential for safety and efficiency and will not necessarily mean job losses.
The USMX suggested that “the ILA is insisting on an agreement that would move our industry backward by restricting future use of technology that has existed in some of our ports for nearly two decades – making it impossible to evolve to meet the nation’s future supply chain demands.”
While the two parties are expected to return to the negotiating table before January’s deadline, there are currently fears that we are heading towards another strike in the new year, which could start ahead of President Trump taking office on January 20th.
