Labor organization continues in Alabama as longshoremen strike looms

The International Longshoremen’s Association is gearing up for a strike that will include longshore workers across the East and Gulf Coasts. 

Contract negotiations broke down between the ILA and the employer association USMX in June after workers in Mobile, AL and other ports alleged that processing of trucks entering and leaving the ports — a job reserved for ILA members — was being automated. Now, ILA leadership has announced its intention to strike and will meet in early September to determine strike strategies and demands.

In addition to Mobile, the current ILA/USMX contract covers some of the busiest ports in the country, including New York/New Jersey, Savannah, Houston, Virginia, and Charleston.

Shippers have already begun to divert traffic to the West Coast in addition to expediting holiday season shipments in anticipation of the strike and the ILA/USMX contract expiration. Experts now anticipate a record number of imports for August.

ILA labor has made big profits for USMX member companies since the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, those profits are slightly receding but still remain higher than when the ILA last negotiated its contract. In the face of inflation and automation concerns like those raised in Mobile, the ILA is looking to secure higher wages and better benefits for its members. 

It is expected that the ILA, under the leadership of President Harold Daggett, will seek higher pay increases for its members than the 32 percent raise over six years which was successfully negotiated by West Coast longshoremen last year. Currently, ILA workers have lower wages and pension payouts than West Coast ILWU members.

According to a recent statement from ILA leadership, this leaves the union “very far apart” from USMX and a strike appears inevitable.

The ILA’s efforts come just a few months after the United Auto Workers lost a vote to unionize two Mercedes-Benz factories in Alabama, an effort seen as part of a larger push to organize Southern labor. Gov. Kay Ivey and other state Republicans celebrated that failed vote, with Ivey referring to unions as “special interests looking to come into our state and threaten our jobs and the values we live by.”

However, with the ILA’s presence in Mobile and a strike on the horizon, it appears that labor organization and union action will continue to be a noteworthy issue in Alabama for months to come.