DETROIT — With a strike looming, the group representing East Coast and Gulf ports is asking a federal agency to force the longshoremen’s union to the bargaining table to negotiate a new contract.
The American Maritime Alliance has filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging that the International Longshoremen’s Association is not bargaining in good faith.
The alliance said in a prepared statement Thursday that it filed the charge “because of the ILA’s repeated refusal to come to the table and negotiate a new master contract.”
The ports are asking for an immediate remedy, an order forcing the union to resume bargaining. It’s unclear how quickly the NLRB will act. A message seeking comment from the agency was left. The NLRB is unlikely to rule on the complaint before Tuesday, the strike deadline, and with no talks scheduled, a strike appears likely.
The NLRB request comes just four days before the ILA’s six-year contract with the ports expires, and the union representing 45,000 dockworkers from Maine to Texas says it will strike at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.
The two sides have not negotiated since June in a dispute largely over wages and a union-proposed ban on increased automation of port cranes, gates and trucks that could cost jobs.
A message seeking comment from the union was also left Thursday.
“USMX has made it clear that it values the work of the ILA and has great respect for its members,” the alliance’s statement said. “We have a shared history of working together and are committed to bargaining.”
In early negotiations, industry analysts say the union was seeking a 77% wage increase over six years to offset inflation and give workers a share of the billions earned by shipping lines since the coronavirus pandemic.
The union says the two sides have communicated several times in recent weeks, but the situation remains deadlocked because the Maritime Alliance is offering an unacceptable wage increase.
The most skilled port workers now earn a base wage of $39 an hour, or just over $81,000 a year. But with overtime and other benefits, some can earn more than $200,000 a year. Neither the union nor the ports want to discuss wage levels. But a 2019-2020 report by the Waterfront Commission, which oversees the Port of New York, said about a third of longshoremen based there earned $200,000 or more.
In a statement released Monday, the ILA said it refutes claims it attributes to the alliance that the union’s demands amount to a wage increase of more than 75% over the life of the contract.
“Misleading the public with misleading calculations is not going to help secure a deal with the ILA,” President Harold Daggett said in the statement released Monday.
The union has claimed that shippers have made billions since the pandemic began. Copenhagen-based Maersk, one of the world’s largest container shippers, made more than $50 billion in profits over the past four years. But the gains were substantially reduced in 2023, when pandemic-era consumer demand declined and freight rates soared again.
A strike would shut down as many as 36 ports that handle nearly half of the cargo that enters and leaves the U.S. on ships.
If the strike were resolved within a few weeks, consumers would likely not notice a major shortage of goods. Many retailers and other businesses have stocked up on goods in anticipation of a strike.
But a strike that lasted more than a month would likely lead to shortages of some consumer goods, even though most holiday goods have already arrived from overseas.
A prolonged strike would almost certainly hurt the U.S. economy. Even a short strike would cause disruption. There would likely be increased vehicle traffic at key points in the country as cargo is diverted to West Coast ports, where workers belong to another union not involved in the strike. And once the longshoremen’s union returned to work, there would likely be a delay in the arrival of ships. For every day of a dock strike, experts say it takes four to six days to clear it.
If a strike occurs, it would be the ILA’s first nationwide walkout since 1977.