International Longshoreman Association (ILA) is threatening to strike on September 30th if no new contract can be agreed upon with their old contract expiring. This would shut down the ports on the east coast and in the Gulf and create chaos within US supply chains.

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SebWilms2002@reddit

This is very advantageous timing for the Union, being that October is a particularly high traffic month as retailers ramp inventory up leading to Black Friday/Cyber Monday and the Holidays in general.

If they do strike, even just for a few days, it could have effects the last past the Holidays.

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WillBottomForBanana@reddit

OtOH, it's close to the election. They buggered the rail road workers over politics, so this might be messy.

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kormer@reddit

it's close to the election

Biden/Harris cannot afford a major port strike right before an election and will do anything they can to magically make money appear to grease an end to the strike.

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DasRedBeard87@reddit

According to Bidens administration they have no intention of getting involved.

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WillBottomForBanana@reddit

Or just make the strike illegal.

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DasRedBeard87@reddit

Which literally can't happen.

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emseefely@reddit

Sometimes a bit of a squeeze is needed. If a lot of people knew how we got 40hr work weeks and weekends, they’d definitely be more appreciative of strikes.

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armstrony@reddit

I work somewhat closely with the NY/NJ ports, and from what I've heard, it will happen unless all their demands are met. It also seems like they've already begun in some ways. Port Elizabeth APM terminal has been a nightmare for drayage going in and out. Some drivers have told me that they watch the crane workers stare at their phones in between lifting boxes as if intentional. Their wait time is usually between 4-6 hours to pull an empty now, crazy.

I've also seen from ERD's to cut off be like 2-3 days to now same day for both.

Seems like their is definitely something brewing, and it's going to hurt a lot of industries unless something happens. I really think if/when this strike happens, the gov't will step in almost immediately, and if they don't...

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DasRedBeard87@reddit

Canadian ports already put out that so much as a two week strike could back log them into 2025.

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DasRedBeard87@reddit

Longshoreman here. That 45k port worker number is off by about another 40k.

It's not about retention of existing technology. It's about stopping full automation from taking over and essentially wiping out the industry of workers.

APM has been side tracking the current contract and intentionally ignoring it with the port in Alabama.

So far they've been tight lipped on what kind of actual wage numbers have been thrown around during negotiations. Personally I'm not believing anything until it's written in stone.

The ILA told the USMX until the issue in the port in Alabama is rectified, they aren't gonna talk.

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Exploring_2032@reddit (OP)

It's a slippery slope with technology. May not be full automation today but once you get it in the value cycle it's just a matter of time.

I get what they are trying to do (I've managed technology change and digitization for most of my career) but you have to be upfront about it, and it needs to take account of the impact on people. There's too much behind the scenes going on. Best of luck with any action.

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DasRedBeard87@reddit

I know you mean well but here's the thing, and from someone who's been doing it for 18 years now, they want to pay the least amount of people they can. There are some ports (not in the US) in countries where they might not have more than 3 to 4 people. It's all automated jockeys, automated gantry cranes, every container is automatically located without any human interaction. This is what we are fighting to stop from happening in the near future in the US. At least on the East Coast. Especially when these shipping lines are making hand over fist in profit off of our backs. MSC, granted they are the biggest line in the world, brings in 100 million A DAY in PROFIT. But they want to eliminate our jobs or have us just eat wages from 6 to 10 years ago and be happy. That ain't happening.

I'm not trying to stir up an argument but there is a LOT in the background that these articles leave out, intentionally skew facts, etc. I have yet to see an article posted that actually gets the facts right let alone the amount of people that actually work these ports. So far I've seen 20,000 and 45,000 and those numbers are sooooo wrong.

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Exploring_2032@reddit (OP)

All about profit. And you're correct, if you aren't in the job, you only know what you see in the media.

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