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ILA Strike Watch 2025: ILA USMX to Resume Talks in November

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30 October 2024

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The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), representing dockworkers at America’s East and Gulf Coast ports, and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), representing their employers, put out a joint statement on Friday regarding the resumption of contract negotiations.

The parties, according to the statement, will resume Master Contract discussion in November.

Yes, that’s November 2024 – only days away. But the reason I’m now calling this blog series “ILA Strike Watch 2025” is the clock is ticking down to a January 15th, 2025 deadline to reach a new deal or a potential renewed ILA strike.

Going back to November of last year, the ILA started threatening to strike if a new deal wasn’t reached by the expiration of the current contract, which happened on September 30th. Promptly, the ILA went on strike on October 1st. The strike only lasted 3 days before a tentative wage-increase agreement was made, with some strong-arming from the White House, and the expired contract was extended until January 15th.

That winds back the clock on the strike but leaves some difficult issues for the ILA and USMX to negotiate through.

Difficult Issues for USMX & ILA to Negotiate

ILA Dockworkers Prepare for Strike as Watch Counts Down

At the very top of the list of difficult issues is automation. The ILA wants to move backwards from previous agreements made regarding automation, seeing the issue as an existential one. The union has publicly declared it wants no automation whatsoever at the ports. The USMX sees updating the ports with new technology that utilizes automation as necessary to grow, reach competitive efficiency with other ports around the world, and keep up with growing shipping demand at the ports.

Another issue that has been contentious between the parties in the past and needs to be watched now is union jurisdiction. The ILA wants to control all the jobs at the ports. Other unions, like the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), and government workers holding some jobs at ports has created conflict over union jurisdiction in the past. Many see it as a likely problem when negotiations resume.

Talks Could Be Very Contentious

There are industry insiders looking at the situation who don’t think the USMX is willing to give much ground in negotiations. After repeatedly bending a few times with higher wage offers in effort to prevent a strike from a union that refused to meet for talks, the USMX was forced into a 62% wage increase tentative agreement. The Biden/Harris Administration coerced the USMX into the agreement as the administration publicly used union rhetoric against the employers.

It appears that if the USMX is going to bend on another issue, it will want to adjust how much of a wage increase it is giving. The USMX actually called the deal on wages provisional, that it was a deal point among many that will have to be revisited during talks.

The ILA has already shown its willingness to strike over the things it wants in the new contract. The union will not likely be easily moved off of any contract points it wants in the new contract. And if the USMX tries to renegotiate the tentatively-agreed-upon wage increase to a lower amount, the union is likely to be very vocal about it and ready to execute more labor action against its employers.

That means shippers will be anxiously watching what happens between the ILA and USMX during November’s resumption of contract negotiations.

Unfortunately, the parties did not share exactly when in November they would meet at the negotiating table. Below, I share the full text of what they did share in their joint press release.

Full Text of ILA-USMX Statement

JOINT STATEMENT Regarding Resumption of ILA-USMX Negotiations

NORTH BERGEN/LYNDHURST, NJ (October 25, 2024) – The leadership of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) today announced that they will resume Master Contract discussions in November 2024, to discuss all outstanding issues to reach a new agreement. Earlier this month, the two sides extended the Master Contract until January 15, 2025, and reached a tentative agreement on wages that is contingent on bargaining all open issues.

The respective negotiating committees will meet in New Jersey, where they will look to agree on terms for a new Master Contract Proposal that can be presented to the full ILA Wage Scale Committee for approval, and later, to ILA Longshore workers for ratification.

“The ILA and USMX welcome the opportunity to return to the bargaining table and get a new agreement in place as soon as possible,” they said.

The two sides will not discuss details of negotiations with the media prior to these meetings.

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and maritime employers along the US East and Gulf coasts said Friday they will resume negotiations in November on the remaining terms of a new master contract following a tentative wage deal that ended a three-day dockworkers strike earlier this month.

The ILA and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) said in a joint statement talks will take place in New Jersey next month on a six-year master contract. After settling on a wage offer on Oct. 3 that would increase longshore pay 62%, the two sides agreed to a contract extension until Jan. 15 to negotiate other outstanding issues.

“The ILA and USMX welcome the opportunity to return to the bargaining table and get a new agreement in place as soon as possible,” the two sides said in the statement, adding that no further details about the negotiations will be available prior to those meetings.

The biggest remaining issue has to do with contractual language around the use of marine terminal automation and new technology. Under the previous master contract that expired at the end of September, the ILA and USMX allowed marine terminals to implement semi-automated equipment provided that both the union and terminal agreed on staffing. But it completely barred the development of fully automated terminals.

The ILA has struck a more hardline tone during this bargaining cycle, calling for a ban on the use of any type of automation.

“The ILA is steadfastly against any form of automation — full or semi — that replaces jobs or historical work functions,” the union said in an Oct. 1 statement, the day its members walked off the job. “We will not accept the loss of work and livelihood for our members due to automation.”