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ILA Strike Watch 2024: With 1 Month Till Strike, ILA Flips on Mediation

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27 October 2024

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There’s about one month until the master contract expires on September 30th for dockworkers in the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA). The ILA maintains it will go on strike, shutting down all the ports on the East and Gulf Coasts, if there is no new deal in place by the expiration. Scarily enough for shippers, contract negotiations have been completely stalled. The union cancelled talks that were scheduled to begin back in June, accusing Maersk of using an automated gate at the Port of Mobile that breaks the master contract. Maersk denies the claim. The ILA has been unwilling to reschedule negotiations. And all along, the union has been adamant it wants no mediation from the Biden Administration.

But something changed.

Suddenly, the union flipped on its mediation stance. At least, its latest action would indicate as much.

ILA Files for Federal Mediation

On Monday of last week, the ILA quietly filed for federal mediation. When, several days later, the union revealed it had filed to the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), the group of employers at the ports quickly did likewise. Glenn Taylor reports in a Sourcing Journal article, published by MSN:

[The USMX] said the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) notified them on Thursday that the union filed for mediation on Aug. 19.

According to the USMX, the ILA filed a Form F-7 with Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service (FMCS), the agency tasked with assigning mediators and arbitrators to labor disputes. The USMX filed the same form with the FMCS on Aug. 23.

I don’t want to get too far ahead of things, but this is the first bit of positive news shippers have had on the potential ILA strike since… well, this is the first bit of positive news shippers have heard regarding the potential ILA strike period. The strike has only been looking more and more likely.

With time running out to get a strike-averting deal done, the union unwilling to sit at the negotiating table, and rhetoric sounding increasingly contentious, it has become hard to imagine the ILA and USMX reaching a deal in time without mediation. An October 1st strike has looked likely. Wise shippers have been preparing for a potential shutdown of East and Gulf Coast ports by shipping early and preparing to divert cargo through West Coast ports. After all, the union has been explicitly saying it and the USMX are far apart on terms, and the ILA’s stance on mediation had been summed up by the following quote from its president, Harold Daggett:

“We will not be interested in Biden sending us a mediator if negotiations are not going well.”

Why Is the ILA Inviting Mediation

What has prompted the sudden flip of the ILA’s stance on federal mediation? It would take speculation to say, but one thing that could be said with certainty is the union wouldn’t want forced mediation or federal action pressuring it into a deal it thinks is unfavorable.

Less than a week ago in Canada, after the railroads shut down from a lockout simultaneous to a union strike notice taking effect, the federal government forced mediation between the railroads and the rail workers’ union. With that, Canada’s government took away the union’s ability to strike.

The ILA may see itself getting forced into a deal it doesn’t like if it doesn’t negotiate and then initiates a very economically damaging strike that forces the Biden Administration to act. Disrupting U.S. supply chains likely to the tune of billions of dollars in damage to the economy per day could be disastrous for the Harris presidential campaign, which is already weak and way behind the Trump campaign on the issue of the economy. It would probably hurt Democrats down the ballots as well.

In 2022, a U.S. rail strike was looming that was seen as potentially very damaging to Democrats running in the midterm election. The Biden Administration used executive order to stop a strike, appointed a Presidential Emergency Board to examine the dispute and create a recommended agreement, then pressured the sides to accept the deal. It was rejected a number of times by union votes, and there was quite a bit of drama plus Congressional action and President Biden signing a bill to fully avert a strike. Many rail workers felt like they were forced into taking a federally laid out deal that wasn’t in their best interest. That doesn’t sound like an outcome the ILA would want.

Additionally, after the Biden Administration stepped in with mediation in the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) negotiations that stalled and disrupted West Coast ports with labor action, ILA President Harold Daggett was critical of the West Coast dockworkers’ union continuing to work basically under an extended contract, the administration’s mediation, and the deals the ILWU has gotten. Perhaps filing with the FMCS, the ILA hopes to avoid a high ranking Biden Administration member – like U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie Su, who mediated the ILWU’s negotiations – appointed to mediate.

The importance of avoiding an ILA strike for the economy and political aims might push the mediation right up above the FMCS to someone like the Secretary of Labor. However, one way it should help the ILA is by affecting public perception. By filing for mediation before the USMX, the ILA has the opportunity for positive press. By all reporting, the union is the party halting negotiations and threatening major disruption to supply chains. Seeking federal mediation first won’t likely allow the ILA to flip the narrative but at least show some good faith in seeking negotiation and keeping cargo moving through the ports.

Conclusion

In the final month before the ILA contract expires, news around the potential strike should amplify. The threat level is still very high, but the bit of news we covered today is overall positive. Even so, rhetoric between the ILA and USMX will likely get worse in the next two to three weeks rather than better. Both will be looking to do whatever they can to get a favorable contract worked out. That likely includes appeals to public opinion.

Will there be strike on October 1st? We’re in the final countdown. Cue the song.