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October 6, 2024

Port Strike Called Off Two Days After It Started

After two days of disruption, a strike at ports on the East and Gulf Coast of the United States has ended — for now — allowing for the resumption of normal operations that are crucial to industrial metals companies and the broader supply chain.

The strike, which began early last week, had halted operations at 36 key shipping terminals stretching from Boston to Houston and had exacerbated an already existing backlog at some of the busiest ports in the United States. According to The Hill, the business research nonprofit The Conference Board put the cost of the strike at around $540 million per day, while analysts at JP Morgan estimated the cost to be up to $5 billion daily. The ports that were shuttered handle more than 68 percent of all containerized exports and 56 percent of imports into the United States.

The strike was suspended after the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), which represents 85,000 dockworkers, and the United States Maritime Alliance’s (USMX) agreed to extend their current contract, which had expired on Monday, Sept. 30, until January 15, 2025, and to return to the bargaining table and negotiate outstanding issues. USMX also has reportedly agreed to embrace a 62 percent wage increase over the next six years. (The ILA has been seeking a 77 percent increase.)

While an agreement about pay may be in place, dockworkers also have expressed concerns about, and demands regarding, automation. “[W]e want absolute airtight language that there will be no automation or semi-automation,” ILA president Harold Daggett had said in a statement issued last week, before the strike ended.

The ILA and USMX will work to reach a new contract that addresses automation, and solidifies the pay raise, before the January 15, 2025 contract expiration date. Even if an agreement is struck, it will still have to be ratified by rank-and-file ILA members. In other words: the risks to the supply chain are not over. Connecting the Dots will continue to report on this matter as negotiations continued and until a final contract is ratified.

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