Saying that wages have not kept up with inflation, nearly 50,000 longshore workers went on strike at midnight on October 1, which is likely to crimp the flow of commercial goods to consumers across the country.
Longshore workers from New York and New Jersey are out picketing in Red Hook, Brooklyn, at the Port Liberty terminal in Staten Island, and at New Jersey terminals in Newark, Elizabeth, and Jersey City.
The union workers, members of the North Bergen, N.J.-based International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), are demanding an increase in their wages from port freight management companies that bargain under the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents large shipping companies and containerized freight management companies that run the port facilities.
ILA members move commercial goods like cars and car parts, food products, and customer products from container ships to shore-based trucks at 36 ports along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The strike is expected to affect imported perishable items first, like grapes from Chile, bananas from Central America, and orange juice from Brazil. Should the strike go past six weeks, major importers and exporters would be affected, such as oil and gas, semiconductors, and auto parts.
ILA members’ six-year contract is up this year and there has yet to be an agreement on a new one. Union members are currently paid $39 an hour, which is up 11% from the start of their previous six-year contract, but with inflation up 24%, those wages have not kept pace.
Members also want a $5 an hour raise in each year of their next six-year contract; USMX is offering annual raises of half that: $2.50 an hour.
“USMX brought on this strike when they decided to hold firm to foreign-owned ocean carriers earning billion-dollar profits at United States ports, but not compensate the American ILA longshore workers who perform the labor that brings them their wealth,” said ILA President Harold Daggett.
Damaso Reyes photos
This is the union’s first strike since 1977 and could affect 50% of the shipping in the United States. It comes at a precarious time—just after a large percentage of the U.S. southeast suffered devastating damages after Hurricane Helene made landfall, affecting communities from Florida through Virginia. Many of those communities have an urgent need for goods and products, and not having access to them could endanger people’s lives.
The Conference Board, a business group, has said the strike could cost the U.S. economy about $4 billion a week in lost economic activity. Still, many large retailers anticipated the strike and have stocked up on inventory for the holiday season.
The bigger issue affecting this strike is automation: The ILA is one of the few unions with actual power: They have a monopoly on off-loading containers at ports around the country. However, their jobs and pay are targets of automation. ILA members run the giant cranes that move containers from ship to truck or truck to ship. They sit 100 feet above the docks and peer through a window at their feet to position cranes for pickup.
Their jobs could easily be automated, whether by robotics on site or at a remote location with a joystick and a computer console. Other efforts to automate dockworker jobs include using self-driving trucks, trains, and container tracking tools. The longshoremen’s strike is still about increasing wages, but it is also about preventing job losses due to automation and slowing down automation.
The Biden administration said it is closely monitoring the strike and its potential supply chain impacts. It has urged both sides to return to the table and negotiate “in good faith—fairly and quickly.”
In a statement, the White House said, “On Monday, at the president’s direction, Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard convened USMX board members and urged them to resolve this in a way that accounts for the success of these companies in recent years and the invaluable contributions of ILA workers. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su, and…Lael Brainard have been in direct contact with both USMX and the ILA on the president’s behalf to keep the negotiations moving forward….The president and vice president believe collective bargaining is the best way for both American workers and employers to come to a fair agreement.”