gotchanewsdaily.com 
New York
CNN
—
Negotiations aimed at heading off a new strike at the ports up and down America’s East and Gulf Coasts are set to resume Tuesday.
The talks are between the United States Maritime Alliance, the group representing ship lines and port and terminal operators which uses the acronym USMX, and the International Longshoremen’s Association, a union which represents 50,000 members who fill 25,000 jobs spread between three dozen locations at 14 port authorities from Maine to Texas.
In October ILA members went on strike, stopping the flow of much of the cargo and containers over those docks. Those ports handle more than half of US inbound container traffic, and the strike threatened to create shortages of all manner of imports needed by US businesses and consumers, as well as hurt US exports. The strike ended after only three days though, when a tentative agreement sent workers back to the docks.
That agreement covered only wages, which increased hourly pay by 10% in the first year and 62% over the six-year tentative deal. But it was silent on the issue of automation at the ports, a key issue in the strike. The members agreed only to go back to work through January 15, meaning a new strike could start on January 16 without a new contract or another contract extension.
Neither the ILA nor USMX are commenting on where things now stand in negotiations, but the two sides have not met in person since mid-November. The key issue now being discussed involves the use of automation at the ports. Management argues it needs to introduce technology to improve productivity, not to eliminate union jobs, but the union is not convinced its members won’t be hurt by new technology.
President Joe Biden had refused calls by many of the nation’s business groups to intervene and order the ILA members back to work during the October strike.
It seems as if President-elect Donald Trump would also refuse to take the side of USMX and order the ILA back to work if a new strike starts and spills over into his tenure. After meeting with ILA President Harold Daggett in December, Trump came out firmly in favor of the ILA position on the issue of automation at the ports, writing on his Truth Social platform that the foreign-owned ship lines that dominate the USMX “have made a fortune in the US by giving them access to our markets…. I’d rather these foreign companies spend it on the great men and women on our docks, than machinery, which is expensive, and which will constantly have to be replaced.”
