ILA Strike Watch 2024: Fight Intensifies – Strike Extremely Likely – Full Text of USMX Statement & ILA’s Scathing Response

20 days… That’s all that’s left before a new deal has to be reached between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX).

No deal by then, there’s a strike.

After the ILA published a letter to its rank and file this weekend, it looks even more likely picketing dockworkers will shut down all the ports along the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts on October 1st.

I don’t want to say a new deal by the deadline is not happening, but I think you’d have a hard time finding anyone who thinks a deal will happen by then. Many would flat out say it’s not happening.

Not only are there no negotiations happening between the ILA and USMX, but the rhetoric between the parties is intensifying – particularly from the union. Keep in mind, the ILA is also the party that cancelled negotiations that were scheduled to start in June. And it has refused to sit at the negotiation table ever since.

I don’t think shippers should give up all hope for a positive outcome, but be prepared for a strike.

On Saturday, the ILA published the letter to its rank and file that has made many shippers and industry experts believe it would take federal intervention to prevent a strike from happening. The letter is in response to a short press release the USMX put out on Thursday about the contract negotiations. The union’s letter sounds angry and, of course, full of inflammatory and rhetorical language against the USMX, but it does also give a little more insight into the union’s position and demands.

Below, I share the full texts of the USMX release and the ILA letter, but, first, here are some things we can take away from the ILA letter.

Delineated ILA Demands

Harold and Dennis Daggett, the ILA’s contract-negotiating (or refusing to negotiate, as the case may be) president and executive vice president, respectively, demand:

• Much larger wage increases than the USMX is offering
• Stronger work guarantees than the current hourly, daily, and shift guarantees in place
• NO AUTOMATION – moving backwards from the current automation contract language of no fully-automated terminals and no semi-automation without agreement by both parties to workforce protections and staffing levels
• Larger container royalties
• No cameras in the workplace
• Higher retirement and pension contributions with changes to calculation rules, including man-hour and tonnage assessments
• Increased healthcare benefits, including a hardship provision for rare cases when a member is at risk of losing healthcare benefits

ILA’s Intense Rhetoric

Reading the letter, there’s tons of contentious language. It almost sounds like the Daggetts are trying to convince union members that their employers are evil.

Through the letter, the Daggetts call the USMX greedy, delusional propagandists, who take advantage of old entry wages and a tiered progression system against union members. In various ways, the Daggetts call ILA’s USMX employers liars, who have zero respect for their workers. In fact, the ILA letter even claims the USMX disdains union members. The Daggetts say the USMX – “under the guise of safety” – stalks employees, creating unsafe and hostile workplaces by placing cameras in workstations.

The Daggetts call for union members to stay strong and united, clearly against the USMX and its “nonsense” the Daggetts claim its trying to use to trick its employees.

The Daggetts seem to feel a need to convince or reinforce in the union a trust in their leadership with statements like, “We are a rank-and-file-first administration, and we are taking on this fight for you and your families!” and “When the time comes, we will send out the most accurate and up-to-date information to our membership.”

In the meantime, they urge union members to disregard anything the USMX says. To reinforce that, the Daggetts make an emotional appeal to their union members that the USMX doesn’t think they’re smart enough to see through its tactics.

Maybe the Daggetts thought the USMX’s Thursday statement was too straightforward and convincing. They certainly don’t want union members who might not want to strike, losing work for an indeterminate amount of time, and might be unsure or unhappy about the Daggetts’ strategy of not negotiating during these months leading up to the contract expiration think their employers sound reasonable.

I’ll let you be the judge for yourself how reasonable the USMX and ILA sound with the full text of the former’s statement and the latter’s letter in response:

Full Text of USMX Press Release About Contract Negotiations Status

Full Text of ILA Leadership Letter to Members in Response to USMX Release

Letter of Opposition to USMX’s Misleading Statement
[September 7th, 2024]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Our employers’ association, USMX, recently issued a press release attempting to paint a rosy picture of the current state of negotiations. Let us be clear: this is nothing more than propaganda designed to mislead and divide us.

Industry Leading Wages?

USMX claims to offer industry-leading wages. However, their interpretation of “leading wages” is polar opposite to ours. Inflation has completely eaten into any raises and wages. Everything has become more expensive, even compared to six years ago. Our members are struggling to pay their mortgages, rent, car payments, groceries, utility bills, taxes, and in some cases, their children’s education. USMX’s corporate greed has made them delusional—profits over people. They have taken advantage of a low entry wage and a tiered progression system for thirty years. We outright reject their position on the new entry wage.

Our work is in a shape industry; we are at the beck and call of the ships. No ships mean no work. The only guarantees our workers have are hourly, daily, or shift guarantees. Our rank-and-file members are not on salary—they work when the ships are docked at the berth, and only if their seniority affords them the opportunity.

Misleading Workforce Protections

USMX is trying to fool you with promises of workforce protections for semi-automation. Let me be clear: we don’t want any form of semi-automation or full automation. We want our jobs—the jobs we have historically done for over 132 years. USMX members expects us to trust them? They don’t even live up to the current contract, and they want us to believe that they will honor workforce protections?

These companies have already shown their true colors. They order equipment like RMG’s and CRMG’s, and when we stand firm on our position, they cry about having spent tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, expecting us to feel sorry for them and negotiate an inferior deal. Well, that’s not going to happen! We don’t care how much they spend—a labor agreement should be worked out before they order any equipment. The days of the gentleman’s agreements are over. We want ironclad language, and we want the intent of that language in writing. Bottom line: the ILA does not support any kind of automation, including semi-automation.

These companies cannot be trusted! They continue to sneak in automated programs and eliminate our clerical functions behind our backs. They better get ready for the biggest fight they’ve ever seen. We are done with them unilaterally implementing work processes and having zero respect for our members and their work functions.

Container Royalty: Our Members’ Money

Container royalty was originally negotiated as a supplemental wage. That’s our members’ money, earned through their hard work! Our members should never have to share their container royalty money with the ocean carriers, who are currently making record profits. The very idea that these corporate giants would even consider taking money out of our members’ pockets is sickening. This is yet another example of corporate greed and their disdain for the workers who make their success possible.

Cameras in Workstations

USMX continues to monitor us by placing cameras in our workstations and in the cabs of the equipment we operate. They say it’s for safety, but we know better. They are using these cameras to monitor and control us, making our members feel like they’re being watched every second of the day. No worker, especially a woman, should feel uncomfortable or unsafe because management is stalking them while they’re trying to do their job. These employers are creating a hostile work environment under the guise of safety, and we won’t stand for it.

Retirement and Pension Contributions

We negotiated a National Money Purchase Defined Contribution Plan in the current contract, and yes, the employers will be adding to that. But it’s a constant battle to increase the defined benefit (pension) because our man-hour assessment is simply not enough money for us to manage our funds at the local level. Remember, the first five dollars of the man-hour assessment goes directly to MILA. Not to mention that if your port receives a CR5 subsidy (V&H), then your port cannot enhance or improve local benefits, even if your pension fund is 150% overfunded. This is a constant battle with the management trustees. We are now fighting to change the rules around CR5 and increase the man hour assessment so that we can enhance local benefits.

Most of our defined benefit pension plans do not give retirees or their spouses enough money to retire with dignity. Starting a National DC program is great, but that’s for those who still have 15 years or more to go. What about the people who want to retire now? We need to increase our man-hour assessments, and we need a significant increase in our tonnage assessments! Man hours are flatlining or barely increasing by 1-2% in this modern era, and carriers hide behind withdrawal liability. These employers don’t care about the workers who helped them achieve their historic record profits. It’s time they start giving back to the people who worked hard on the waterfront for decades. Our members deserve to retire with dignity and financial security.

Healthcare Coverage and Hardship Provisions

USMX suggests that our healthcare benefits will remain the same. That’s not good enough. We demand better coverage for our members. We want to enhance our benefits, not just maintain them. Our members deserve it, and we will fight for it.

We also want to establish a hardship provision for those rare but heartbreaking cases where members are at risk of losing their healthcare benefits. It’s unimaginable that, during times of crisis, a member and their family could be left without essential coverage. In such situations, lives can be destroyed, or families may be forced into bankruptcy just to manage medical bills. We are committed to making sure those members receive the healthcare benefits they need and deserve when they need them most.

USMX’s Propaganda and Our Unity

This propaganda from USMX is exactly what we predicted weeks ago. It’s also incredibly insulting that they think our members aren’t smart enough to see through their tactics. I don’t believe they understand just how united this union is today. When the time comes, we will send out the most accurate and up-to-date information to our membership. In the meantime, disregard any information coming from management. These are the same people who circumvent your contract every day and drag their feet in the grievance and arbitration process. These are the same people who act like Big Brother, watching your every move and creating hostile work environments by putting cameras in our workstations and equipment.

As frustrated as we are with our employers, it’s almost comical that they believe our members would fall for this nonsense. We are a rank-and-file-first administration, and we are taking on this fight for you and your families!

Stay strong, stay united, and we will prevail!

In solidarity,

Harold and Dennis Daggett
International Longshoremen’s Association