US Port Workers Initiate Strike Action

This is very concerning for all BIFA members and their customers that offer international ocean freight operations to and from the US East Coast, which include LCL and FCL import and export operations.

It is reported that thousands of port workers will be involved in the work stoppage across 36 ports from Maine to Texas, in a move that could cause significant disruption to the country's economy, depending on the duration of the strike.

The strike is the result of a breakdown in negotiations between the ILA and the US Maritime Alliance (USMX), a coalition representing employers of the east and Gulf Coast longshore industry, over a new Master Contract.

The ILA is calling for significant wage increases for its longshoremen (stevedores), and the halt of automation projects at US terminals.

Various business groups have warned that the work stoppage would damage US trade. It represents the latest major disruption to global supply chains, which have been strained by a drought that limited traffic through the Panama Canal and by attacks by the Houthi militant group in Yemen that forced vessels out of the Red Sea.

Analysts at JPMorgan estimated that the strike could cost the US economy as much as $5billion USD per day, but said they did not expect it to last longer than a week.

The previous agreement, which ran for six years and covered port workers employed in container and ro-ro operations, expired at midnight on Monday, 30 September, as the ILA said the USMX "continues to block the path toward a settlement", and accusing the alliance of seeming "intent on causing a strike".

The stoppage marks the first coast-wide ILA strike since 1977, and since then the USMX says it and its predecessor organisations successfully negotiated ten contracts with the ILA without incurring a coast-wide work stoppage. The current strike is projected to affect approximately half of the United States' ocean shipping.

US President Joe Biden said in September that he did not intend to intervene to prevent the walkout if parties failed to secure a new contract, despite having the necessary power to do so legally under the Taft-Hartley Act, which allows the President to impose an 80 day "cooling off" period under which a strike or lockout is illegal, with President Biden stating he "doesn't believe in Taft-Hartley".

The situation is very fluid and BIFA will endeavour to share information about developments as we find out more.

There is a good article that summarises the situation on the Reuters website, which can be seen here: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-east-coast-dockworkers-head-toward-strike-after-deal-deadline-passes-2024-10-01/

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