Calls for talks as coastwide labor strike could hit supply chains on Tuesday

The employer group took action on Thursday to bring the union back to the negotiating table: It filed unfair labor practice charges against the union with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The employer group asked for “immediate injunctive relief – requiring the union to resume bargaining – so that we can negotiate a deal.”

ILA called the suit “another publicity stunt” by USMX.

The real unfair labor practice, ILA said, is foreign-owned companies operating at US ports exporting billions in profits while underpaying ILA longshore workers.

Filing unfair labor charges four days before the current contract expires “clearly illustrates what poor negotiating partners they have been,” the ILA added.

The ILA suspended master contract negotiations in June after discovering a USMX employer was using automation at an ILA port. Now, the union doesn’t want “any form of semi-automation or full automation. We want our jobs,” according to ILA President Harold J. Daggett.

The union is pushing for significant wage increases in this next six-year contract. And Daggett says they deserve it – for continuing to work through the Covid-19 pandemic and these past few high-inflationary years without changes to their pay.

The leader has repeatedly warned what will happen if the USMX continues making “stingy,” “low-ball” offers and doesn’t meet the union’s wage demands: Tens of thousands of ILA-represented dock workers will walk off the job and take to the picket lines on Tuesday, Oct. 1, at 12:01 a.m.

ILA doesn’t represent longshore workers at every US East and West Coast port. But it does at the big ones, including Houston, New Orleans, Mobile, Tampa, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. The master contract being negotiated doesn’t cover every ILA member on the coast, but all ILA members plan to walk off in solidarity.

Earlier this month, Daggett ended an interview with a veiled yet obvious threat: “In today’s world. I’ll cripple you. I will cripple you. You have no idea what that means. Nobody does.”

Manufacturers warning

A coastwide labor strike could cause widespread delays in transportation routes, snarl supply chains, and wreak havoc on the economy.

The industrial sector would also take a hit, according to the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), which said, “Manufacturing supply chains throughout the US will be thrown into disarray.”

The trade association points out that East Coast and Gulf Coast ports process more than 68% of all containerized exports and more than 56% of containerized imports. They also handle more than 76% of containerized vehicle exports and more than 54% of containerized vehicle imports.

NAM and nearly 200 other associations urged President Biden earlier this month to engage with both “parties to quickly negotiate a new deal or agree to continue negotiations while keeping the ports open and cargo flowing.”

The Recycled Materials Association (ReMA); Alliance for Automotive Innovation (AAI); and Heating, Air-conditioning, & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) were among the 178 signers of that request.

“A strike at this point in time would have a devastating impact on the economy, especially as inflation is on the downward trend,” the associations warned.

Help?

The White House has not yet issued a statement on the matter.

The AP reported that officials from the Biden administration met with USMX on Friday to encourage them to get to the table, negotiate fairly, and strike a deal quickly. It said ILA received a similar message earlier in the week.

Daggett previously said the union would not consider extending the current contract, nor did it want the government’s help or interference.

But it’s hard to see how this doesn’t get political with the strike’s potential to cause chaos to supply chains and the economy – especially just five weeks away from the November election.