While the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) resumed Master Contract discussions earlier this month “to discuss all outstanding issues to reach a new contract” in advance of a January 15, 2025 deadline for a new deal, respective statements issued earlier today by both parties indicated that much more progress needs to be made for a new deal to come to fruition.
“Over the last two days, USMX met with the ILA to bargain and resolve all remaining outstanding issues needed to reach an agreement on a new Master Contract,” said USMX. “While we had positive progress on a number of issues, we were unable to make significant progress on our discussions that focused on a range of technology issues. Unfortunately, the ILA insists on an agreement that would move our industry backward by restricting the future use of technology that has existed in some of our ports for nearly two decades—making it impossible to evolve to meet the nation’s future supply chain demands.”
USMX added that it has been clear that it is not seeking technology that would eliminate jobs. Instead, it says it needs continued modernization, which is essential to improving worker safety, increasing efficiency in a way that protects and grows jobs, keeping supply chains strong, and increasing capacity that will financially benefit American businesses and workers alike. It concluded by saying it looks forward to resuming negotiations with the ILA.
Meanwhile, ILA said in a Facebook post that ILA and USMX came to the table this week, prepared for four days of intensive bargaining to bring the side closer to securing a fair contract.
“For the first day and a half, discussions were productive, and both sides engaged in addressing serious issues,” said ILA. “However, late yesterday, talks broke down when management introduced their intent to implement semi-automation—a direct contradiction to their opening statement where they assured us that neither full nor semi-automation would be on the table. They claimed their focus was on modernization, not automation. The ILA has always supported modernization when it leads to increased volumes and efficiency. For over 13 years, our position has been clear: we embrace technologies that improve safety and efficiency, but only when a human being remains at the helm. Automation, whether full or semi, replaces jobs and erodes the historical work functions we’ve fought hard to protect.”
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