Posts tagged ILA
Op-ed: Nice dock. Big shame if you modernized it, Trump warns ports
December 18, 2024 // The International Longshoremen Association (ILA), the union that represents dockworkers on the east coast and the Gulf of Mexico, went on strike briefly in early October. They won a whopping 62 percent pay increase but left unresolved a key issue: automation of the ports. The longshoremen oppose any further modernization, seeing it as an existential threat to their jobs. The problem is that American ports are some of the least efficient in the world, largely due to the lack of automation. The World Bank’s Container Port Performance Index does not have a single US port in its top 50 ranking for efficiency. Charleston and Philadelphia come in at number 53 and 55, respectively. The ports are keen to fix that and therefore oppose the union’s demand.
Trump backs dockworkers in fight against automation. The move risks higher prices, experts say
December 14, 2024 // The U.S. Maritime Alliance, or USMX, the organization representing shipping firms in negotiations, said on Thursday that such automation would improve efficiency and increase capacity. Those enhancements would benefit U.S. companies and consumers that depend on goods from abroad, the group added. “We need modern technology that is proven to improve worker safety, boost port efficiency, increase port capacity, and strengthen our supply chains,” USMX said in a statement.
U.S. port, union talks break down again over automation, with two months to go before potential strike
November 13, 2024 // USMX says the use of semi-automated cranes, already at many ports, is critical to future supply chain demands. The International Longshoremen's Association, which is not publicly commenting, has said in the recent past that the union wants new contract language to clearly state that "no automation means no automation."
The next president may face a ‘January Surprise’: Port strikes
October 31, 2024 // Pay isn’t the issue. There’s a whopping 62 percent pay increase for the ILA already on the table. The issue is that the union wants no further automation of the ports. That’s not reasonable. US ports are already far behind the international standard for automation. CEI has proposed a way to avoid these potential crises in the future: put the ports under the authority of the Railway Labor Act (RLA), as opposed to the National Labor Relations Act’s (NLRA), the law that currently covers them. The RLA gives the president and Congress the power to step in and force a contract. That type of intervention isn’t ideal, but the threat of it will likely force both the union and management to reach a deal quicker. Congress would have to amend the RLA to make that happen and it isn’t likely to get around to it in time to prevent another walkout by the ILA before January.
Opinion: How to Cool Down Labor Unrest at the Ports
October 31, 2024 // Congress should put ports under the same labor-relations law that governs railroads and airlines.
US shippers avoid East Coast ports on risk of second strike
October 31, 2024 // "Anything we expect that we need in the back half of January, we're effectively diverting to the West Coast," said Chris Peterson, CEO of Graco high chair and Crock-Pot cooker maker Newell Brands, referring to the period after the new contract negotiating deadline. Peterson said the company switched a "couple of hundred containers" of critical materials to the opposite coast to get ahead of what he expects will be a second strike lasting, at most, two weeks.
How AI Is Impacting Labor Relations—and Why Employers Need to Pay Attention
October 25, 2024 // One key takeaway from the DOL guidelines is the importance of worker involvement. In unionized workplaces, rolling out AI without worker input is risky. Unions are already pushing back, trying to ensure that AI doesn’t replace jobs or erode working conditions. Employers should expect collective bargaining proposals that set clear parameters around AI usage, from performance monitoring to task automation. Industries like entertainment are leading the charge, with unions such as SAG-AFTRA and the WGA negotiating limits on AI-generated scripts and digital replicas. At ports, the International Longshoremen’s Association is resisting fully automated systems. These are clear signs that AI’s impact on labor is at the top of many unions’ minds.
The Port Strike Is a Reminder That Unions Have Too Much Power
October 18, 2024 // Union bosses can only behave this way because they have monopoly power over labor supply in certain industries. A 62% wage increase would cripple any normal business. Big Labor’s monopoly power, buttressed by an executive branch that greases the skids for union interests at every turn, allows union bosses to extract exorbitant benefits from port employers. This arrangement has benefited Daggett handsomely, given that his more than $1 million annual salary has afforded him a yacht, luxury cars, and multiple mansions.
Opinion: Why union workers are abandoning the Democratic Party
October 15, 2024 // Scott Sauritch, the president of United Steelworkers Local 2227, drew significant public attention recently when he told a writer for the New Yorkerthat despite being a longtime Democrat, he would be voting for Donald Trump in November. He also said that most of the current rank-and-file members of the union planned on doing the same. “I don’t care what you see on TV,” Sauritch said. “The grunts in the lunchroom love Trump.”
Opinion: What Buc-ee’s Can Teach Us About the Port Strike
October 12, 2024 // They care most about sheer numbers, from which both union dues and political power—and thus the leaders’ incredibly high salaries—are derived. So, they’ll fight like hell to keep the people they have, even as doing so contradicts not only the economics—and real-world lessons like Buc-ee’s—but also our current labor market reality, in which workers, not jobs, are increasingly scarce. In that world, it makes oodles of sense to embrace automation and other productivity enhancements, whether at the ports or anywhere else, and any other benefits are just the barbecue sauce on top. In the union’s world, however, the system’s working perfectly, and the government-protected sauce already flows.