A shippers’ coalition on Tuesday asked the White House to help restart stalled contract negotiations and said President Biden should be prepared to intervene to prevent a strike.
FreightWaves examines the International Longshoremen’s Association’s concern with port automation and its effects on global port competitiveness.
East and Gulf Coast port employers insist a new union contract is still within reach before an Oct. 1 strike deadline, and urged the International Longshoremen’s Association to return to the bargaining table.
The Biden administration could face either the wrath of unions or public perceptions of a faltering economy, depending on whether it intervenes in East and Gulf Coast dockworkers’ labor dispute with port employers.
The International Longshoremen’s Association has adopted a resolute stance in negotiations with East Coast port employers from Maine to Houston. There’s speculation that sympathy work stoppages could spread to West Coast container gateways.
Solidarity between the ILA and ILWU was on display the last time the ILA narrowly avoided a strike (and the ILWU did not).
U.S. retailers and manufacturers are taking steps to mitigate a potentially multibillion-dollar hit if the International Longshoremen’s Association goes on strike at the beginning of October.
As a possible strike by the International Longshoremen’s Association looms over U.S. East and Gulf Coast ports, here are five port strikes from around the globe that made history.
Even a short work stoppage by the ILA would greatly disrupt freight networks. SONAR charts show evidence of shippers looking to avoid getting caught in a potential ILA strike which has impacts on maritime, rail intermodal and truckload data.
No talks are scheduled between employers and the International Longshoremen’s Association, which represents unionized workers at ports on the U.S. East and Gulf coasts. Bargaining has stalled over technology and pay issues.
The ILA maintains that it will not accept any extension of their current contract nor any potential mediation by the federal government.
