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Atlantic, Gulf Coast Ports Strike Looms

The likelihood of an Oct. 1 strike at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports is growing as the expiration date of a labor contract nears, International Longshoremen’s Association President Harold Daggett said recently (Sourcing Journal).

What’s going on: Daggett said last Friday “that the maritime employers represented by United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) ‘are running out of time’ to negotiate a new master contract agreement and avoid a coastwide work stoppage across 36 ports from Maine to Texas.”

  • The current work contract between the ILA and USMX expires Sept. 30.
  • Negotiations were scheduled for June, but the ILA canceled them, saying it would not meet with the USMX until the latter had resolved the issue of automatic gates in use at several U.S. ports, which the ILA says replace “ILA labor” (Supply Chain Brain). 

Help not wanted: Although West Coast dockworkers reached a labor agreement with the Pacific Maritime Association last September with the help of the Biden administration, Daggett said the ILA “will not entertain any discussions about extending the current contract, nor are we interested in any help from outside agencies to interfere in our negotiations with USMX. This includes the Biden administration and the Department of Labor.”

Why it’s important: Given existing maritime challenges (such as continued Houthi terrorist attacks on Red Sea vessels, port congestion and carrier capacity problems), “the last thing the supply chain, companies and employees—all of which rely on the movement of goods, both imports and exports, through our East Coast and Gulf Coast ports—need is a strike or other disruptions because of an ongoing labor negotiation,” the NAM and more than 150 other industry organizations told the White House in June.

  • “We encourage the administration to provide any and all support to the parties in their negotiations so they can reach a final agreement before the current contract expires.”
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