Warning to stop negotiations

According to foreign media reports: Recently, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), the largest maritime workers union in the United States, cited automation disputes as the reason，Labor contract negotiations with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) scheduled for June 11 have been suspended

Harold Daggett, president of the International Longshoremen's Association, also warned all parties that union members would go on strike if an agreement cannot be reached before the contract expires.

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It is reported that Harold Daggett, president of the International Longshoremen's Association, has conveyed this message to major trade centers including New Jersey, New York and Houston, and asked relevant workers to prepare for a strike on October 1.

The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), which represents about 70,000 longshoremen on the U.S. East Coast, continues to lash out at Maersk and other container and terminals over talks to start a new five-year longshoremen collective agreement in October. operator.

ILA recently canceled negotiations with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) over the use of the "AutoGate" IT system for truck registration at the Port of Mobile, Alabama, by Maersk-owned port company APM Terminals.

ILA Chairman Harald J. Daggett, said: "We hope that our cancellation of negotiations will serve as a wake-up call to the USMX and its members."

"There is no point in trying to negotiate a new agreement with USMX when one of its major companies continues to violate our current agreement with the sole purpose of eliminating ILA jobs through automation."

ILA said it would not meet with the USMX until the automatic gate issue at the APM Terminals terminal is resolved.

When negotiations resume, the union is expected to demand that ILA members' wages and other benefits are as lucrative as USMX member companies' profits.

The union carefully studied the 2022 financial statements of Maersk, MSC, COSCO, CMACGM, Hapag-Lloyd and Evergreen.

"Companies like Maersk, while generating billions of dollars in revenue, are constantly trying to eliminate jobs for ILA members by introducing automation," the union president said.

"They are going to be in for a rude awakening. This is our time and the ILA is going to demand significant wage increases from our ILA shore workers."

Maersk says 'disappointed' by strike threat”

Maersk said that the shipping group believed that the cancellation of negotiations was purely a negotiation strategy.

APMTerminals said in a written response to ShippingWatch: "We are disappointed that the International Shipping Association has chosen to make some details of the ongoing negotiations public in order to create additional leverage for their other demands."

The threat of possible strikes at U.S. East Coast ports comes at a bad time as supply chains face new pressures. Shipping lines have been plying southern Africa for months because of the Red Sea crisis, where freight rates are rising and capacity is shrinking.

Gene Seroka, chief executive of the Port of Los Angeles, told Reuters that port strikes are rare in the United States but that while collective bargaining is ongoing, there can be a lot of noise and concern.

The concern is that any economic slowdown or shutdown would impact billions of dollars worth of imports of products, from food and medicine to furniture and factory equipment

“In these negotiations, there are stops and starts,” Seroka said.

The CEO of the West Coast Port of Los Angeles, which competes with East Coast ports, said there are delays due to labor negotiations, Red Sea issues and Panama Canal restrictions.

Source: One Shipping

END

The East Coast Longshoremen’s Union issued a warning: Be prepared for a strike!

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