Next month, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) will amend its final contract demands, while also preparing its U.S. East and Gulf coast port worker members for an Oct. 1 strike. It has been 47 years since the ILA last went on strike in 1977.
Last week, the ILA alerted all its locals covered by the Master Contract with United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) that Wage Scale Committee Meetings will be held, beginning on Wednesday, Sept. 4 at the Teaneck Marriott Hotel in Teaneck, N.J., according to ILA President Harold J. Daggett.
While the main purpose of the Wage Scale Meetings will be for ILA Wage Scale Delegates to review demands the ILA makes to USMX, the president and chief negotiator of the ILA said the gathering will afford the union an opportunity to prepare for a potential coast-wide strike on Oct. 1, 2024, if a new agreement is not reached by then.
“We are meeting to discuss our ILA demands with our ILA Wage Scale Committee delegates for the next contract we sign with USMX,” said Daggett said in a statement. “But with less than 30 days to go before the end of our current Master Contract when these meetings are held, we must prepare our locals and our ILA membership for a strike on Oct. 1, 2024. Two generations of ILA members have come into the industry since our last strike in 1977 — more than four and a half decades ago.”
The ILA has called for two days of meetings, Sept. 4 and 5, in Teaneck, and expects to put in marathon hours over those two days presenting the ILA’s final contract demands to its Wage Scale delegates, the ILA statement said. The union plans to devote time to instruct locals on strike strategies and what to expect if the ILA is on strike at the beginning of October.
On Saturday, Bloomberg reported that this strike “would shut down six out of the 10 of the busiest ports in the U.S. just weeks before the presidential election”.
“My membership is 100 percent behind the ILA leadership team, and they know we want to deliver the best contract for them,” said Daggett. “If that means we have to go out on strike October 1st, they are ready to ‘hit the streets’ if our demands are not met.”
In addition to the letter announcing ILA Wage Scale Meetings in early September, the ILA also sent letters this week to all its Employer groups indicating the current agreement between the two parties was expiring on Sept. 30, 2024, and would not be extended. This “60-Day Notice” is required under Section 8 of the Labor-Management Act of 1947, as amended, the statement noted.
