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The #union representing 45,000 striking U.S. dockworkers at East and Gulf Coast ports has reached a deal to #suspend their strike until Jan. 15 to provide time to #negotiate a new contract, a person briefed on the matter says.
WCBD News 2 - Port Workers strike for first time in nearly 50 years
Updates as of November 15, 2024
ILA Breaks Off East Coast Port Contract Talks
The International Longshoremen’s Association has broken off contract #negotiations with East and Gulf Coast port employers, accusing them of pushing automation technology into a new coastwise labour pact that would eliminate union jobs.
The ILA and employers represented by the United States Maritime Alliance this week resumed #bargaining on a new six-year master contract covering 45,000 union workers involved in container handling at dozens of East and Gulf Coast ports.
In a statement posted to social media and then taken down, the ILA said that in meetings in New Jersey, “USMX introduced language in their proposal for semi-automated equipment to be used at ILA ports, which this union outright rejected. The ILA recognized this as a renewed attempt by USMX to eliminate ILA jobs with automation and broke off talks.”
Read more in an article from American Shipper.
Updates as of October 22, 2024
Rates Still Slipping as Peak Season Recedes and Port Strike Threat Subsides
Freight rates are continuing their #downward correction following the premature peak season and front-loading of volumes, leaving shipping lines facing an underwhelming winter.
The Drewry World Container Index (WCI) last week continued its drastic downward trajectory, established in July, reaching $3,216 per FEU, demonstrating that Cape of Good Hope transits are now a matter of routine. New tonnage is constantly hitting the water and the decision of whether port workers on the U.S. east coast will strike again is delayed until January.
Read more at Article from The Loadstar.
Updates as of October 8, 2024
Port strike suspension relieves air cargo pressure but peak outlook remains tight
The suspension of US port strikes until next year has helped relieve some of air cargo’s peak season capacity concerns but questions remain regarding just how busy the next few months will be.
TAC Index editor Neil Wilson said that there was a mixed outlook for how tight capacity would be during the peak season even before the strike was last week temporarily suspended until next year.
He told Air Cargo News that companies had been busy blocking out space on aircraft, which could mean there isn’t a spike in demand as companies have already planned the space they need, or that any spike would have a more pronounced effect on rates as there isn’t enough spare capacity to cater for spot market demand.
“With or without the strike there already was a lot of debate about how big the peak will be – given the amount of capacity already locked up in Block Space Agreements (BSAs) for months ahead,” he said.
Read more at Article from Aircargo News.
By: Damian Brett, Aircargo News
Updates as of October 7, 2024
Supply Chains Expected to Take Weeks to Recover After U.S. Port Strike
Strike action at ports on the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts ended on Thursday, after a new wage agreement was reached – but a backlog of more than 40 ships waiting to offload cargo means the pain is not yet over.
The strike lasted three days, and at 5:00 am ET on Friday, 44 ships were queuing to enter affected ports; more than 120 were en route.
Peter Sand, Chief Analyst at Xeneta, said: “Closing all ports on the U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast – even for just three days – comes with severe consequences. We must now wait to see how quickly the returning workers are able and willing to deal with the huge backlog of ships waiting to offload thousands of containers carrying billions of dollars of goods.”
Sand believes the ripple effect of the strike will spread across global supply chains in the weeks to come.
Read more at Article from the American Journal of Transportation.
Updates as of October 4, 2024
Striking port workers to return to work Friday as negotiators reach an agreement on wages
Striking members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) will be back to work on Friday, the union announced Thursday evening, as it reached a tentative deal with the management group representing shipping lines, terminal operators and port authorities.
The #agreement amounts to a $4-per-hour raise for each year of the six-year contract, a source with knowledge of the negotiations told CNN. That amounts to a first year raise of just over 10% of the current contract’s top pay of $39 an hour. With the five subsequent pay hikes it would raise wages by 62% over the life of the contract
The #union agreed to extend the contract it had with the United States Maritime Alliance, the management group known as USMX. That deal, which had expired at the end of Monday, will be now extended until January 15 and have the union members back on the job while the final details are worked out in a full agreement that will need to be ratified by the rank-and-file.
Read more at Article from CNN.
By: Vanessa Yurkevich and Chris Isidore, CNN
Joint Statement By ILA and USMX
Joint Statement Regarding Master Contract
The International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd. have reached a tentative agreement on wages and have agreed to extend the Master Contract until January 15, 2025 to return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues. Effective immediately, all current job actions will cease and all work covered by the Master Contract will resume.
By: Lori Ann LaRocco, CNBC
Updates as of October 3, 2024 (4:00PM PDT)
ILA Strike is Over, 90-Day Contract in Place
The union, the International Longshoremen’s Association, is to resume working immediately at least until January said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement has yet to be signed.
The #agreement will allow the union and the U.S Maritime Alliance, which represents the shippers and ports, time to negotiate a new six-year contract. The person also said both sides reached agreement on wage increases, but details weren’t available.
The union went on strike early Tuesday after its contract expired in a dispute over pay and the automation of tasks at the ports from Maine to Texas. The strike came at the peak of the holiday shopping season at 36 ports that handle about half the cargo from ships coming into and out of the United States.
The #walkout raised the risk of shortages of goods on store shelves if it lasted more than a few weeks. But most retailers had stocked up or shipped items early in anticipation of the work stoppage.
Read more: Article from AP News
By: Tom Krisher, AP News
Chaos is building for shippers as U.S. port strike continues and costs rise
As the East and Gulf coast ports strike hits its third day on Thursday, the nationwide logistics system is beginning to show signs of stress, with thousands of containers dumped at the wrong ports and billions of dollars in trade at anchor on ships. Ocean carrier surcharges for shipping clients are beginning to mount, and the need to use trucking and rail to move diverted cargo to ultimate destinations is adding to supply chain costs.
The building chaos is occurring with no signs that the International Longshoremen’s Association and United States Maritime Alliance are back at the negotiating table in an attempt to work through significant differences on wage increase levels and use of port automation, despite consistent efforts by the Biden administration to get the parties back into collective bargaining.
In the mad dash to unload as many containers as possible for clients, ocean carriers moved containers off at alternative ports, but according to Vizion, which tracks container movements, roughly 2,000 shipments may have been dropped at a port that was not their intended destination.
Read more at Article from CNBC.
By: Lori Ann LaRocco, CNBC
Box Lines Declare Force Majeure as White House Defends ILA
Shipping lines are beginning to declare force majeure, as the U.S. East and Gulf Coast port strike continues.
Any hope from employer association USMX that the government might intervene to halt the economically damaging strike was dashed when the White House landed firmly on the side of the union. The administration also warned carriers against ‘price-gouging.’
A statement from President Biden urged both sides to restart collective bargaining, saying “the best way for workers to get the pay and benefits they deserve.”
He added: “I have urged USMX, which represents a group of foreign-owned carriers, to come to the table and present a fair offer to the workers of the International Longshoremen’s Association that ensures they are paid appropriately in line with their invaluable contributions.
“Ocean carriers have made record profits since the pandemic and, in some cases, in excess of 800% compared with their profits prior to the pandemic. Executive compensation has grown in line with those profits and profits have been returned to shareholders at record rates.
“It’s only fair that workers, who put themselves at risk during the pandemic to keep ports open, see a meaningful increase in their wages as well.”
Read more at Article from The Loadstar.
Updates as of October 1, 2024
Massive port strike begins across America’s East Coast, threatening shortages and rising prices
Nearly 50,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) are on strike Tuesday against the nation’s East and Gulf Coast ports, choking off the flow of many of America’s imports and exports in what could become the country’s most disruptive work stoppage in decades.
The strike, which began at midnight, will stop the flow of a wide variety of goods over the docks of almost all cargo ports from Maine to Texas. This includes bananas, European beer, wine and liquor, along with furniture, clothing, household goods and European autos, as well as parts needed to keep US factories operating and American workers in those plants on the job, among many other goods. It could also stop US exports now flowing through those ports, hurting sales for American companies.
A wide gap remained between the union’s demands and the contract offer from the United States Maritime Alliance, which uses the acronym USMX. The maritime alliance represents the major shipping lines, all of which are foreign owned; as well as terminal operators and port authorities.
Read more at Article from CNN.
By: Chris Isidore and Vanessa Yurkevich, CNN
U.S. CBP Cargo and Vessel Processing Guidelines Due to ILA Strike
Cargo Entry
The requisite entry documentation may be submitted before the cargo arrives within the port limits of an intended port of entry. Parties submitting entry documentation without an entry summary may request a time of entry as described in Section 141.68(a)(2)-(3) of CBP Regulations; otherwise, the time of entry will be the time that the appropriate CBP officer authorizes the release of the merchandise or any part of the merchandise covered by the entry documentation.
All cargo unladed from vessels arriving at impacted ports remains subject to the requirement of being entered “within 15 calendar days after landing from a vessel, aircraft or vehicle, or after arrival at the port of destination in the case of merchandise transported in bond.” 19 C.F.R. § 141.5. Therefore, imported merchandise should not remain at the wharf, pier, or other place of unlading, for more than 15 calendar days after its landing; or, if transferred from the arriving carrier to any party under a CBP-authorized permit to transfer or in-bond entry, the merchandise should not remain in the custody of that party more than 15 calendar days after its receipt under a CBP-authorized permit to transfer or more than 15 calendar days after it arrives at the port of destination.
Parties making entry must ensure that they update ACE to reflect any necessary change in the port of entry.
Read more in Cargo Systems Message # 62464633.
Updates as of September 30, 2024
Port strike still on schedule, union says
Thousands of dockworkers will walk off the job on Tuesday.
Tens of thousands of dockworkers at East and Gulf Coast ports reaffirmed plans to leave the job when the current contract with port employers expires at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday.
The International Longshoremen’s Association, in a statement Sunday, reaffirmed its plans to set up pickets Oct. 1 at ports from Maine to Texas in a job action that directly involves 25,000 workers in container and ro-ro services.
The union charged that the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) representing terminal operators and ocean carriers “refuses to address a half-century of wage subjugation where Ocean Carriers (sic) profits skyrocketed from millions to mega-billion dollars, while ILA wages remained flat.”
The union reportedly seeks a pay hike of as much as 70% over the six years of a new contract. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union representing West Coast dockworkers in 2023 negotiated wage increases of around 32%.
Read more at Article from Freightwaves.
By: Stuart Chirls, Freightwaves
Updates as of September 25, 2024
Port of New York-New Jersey details strike operations plan
Union work stoppage would shut down East Coast gateway, dozens of other ports
The second-busiest U.S. ocean container port urged shippers to wind down cargo business less than a week before a strike deadline set by union dockworkers.
Strike preparations are underway at the Port of New York-New Jersey, Port Director Bethann Rooney said in a letter to customers, offering details on operational plans during the stoppage.
The International Longshoremen’s Association representing 25,000 members in container and roll-on/roll-off services covered under the current master contract will walk off the job when the contract with port employers represented by the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) expires at midnight Oct. 1. The pact covers workers at three dozen ports from Maine to Texas handling some $92 billion worth of freight each year.
No contract negotiations are scheduled. Major issues are wages, benefits and port automation.
Read more at Article from Freightwaves.
By: Stuart Chirls, Freightwaves
The response was triggered by a letter from 177 trade associations urging the US government to act if negotiations with the ILA don’t resume.
Terminal employers’ association USMX welcomed the letter sent yesterday to the government, ILA and USMX, urging the White House to “immediately work with both parties to resume contract negotiations and ensure there is no disruption to port operations and cargo fluidity”.
Pointing out that the White House had stepped in before to avert strike action, the trade associations, representing a wide array of businesses, noted: “A strike at this point in time would have a devastating impact on the economy, especially as inflation is on the downward trend.”
It urged both parties to return to the “bargaining table”, with administration support, adding: “The administration needs to be ready to step in if a strike or other action occurs that leads to a coastwide shutdown or disruption.”
Unsurprisingly, the USMX issued a statement “in strong agreement” with the letter. And noting the group’s “tremendous respect for the ILA”, it said it was disappointed that the ILA was “unwilling to reopen dialogue unless all of its demands are met”.
The US administration does not have many tools at its disposal to prevent a strike, aside from the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, under which, if it is determined that a port strike could endanger national health or safety, the US president can request a court order for an 80-day cooling-off period.
However, the White House told Reuters: “We’ve never invoked Taft-Hartley to break a strike and are not considering doing so now.
“We encourage all parties to remain at the bargaining table and negotiate in good faith.”
The stakes are high, however, with both trade and politics at risk, with the Democrats currently supportive of the unions in an election year. Politically, this must be set against the potential impact of a strike on the US economy. In addition, some observers believe ILA leader Harold Daggett is looking for a record deal that would cement his legacy.
Read more at Article from The Loadstar.
By: Alex Lennane, The Loadstar