Automation issues hold up labor negotiations for East Coast dockworkers
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Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
There's labor trouble brewing along the country's East Coast ports.
Why it matters: The possibility of a strike — still far off at this point — raises the prospect of higher shipping costs and slower delivery times heading into the prime holiday shopping season.
Zoom in: The largest maritime union in North America, the International Longshoremen's Association, canceled contract talks set to start this week in Newark with the U.S. Maritime Alliance, which represents employers in the longshore industry, including terminal operators and carriers.
- The union says some ports use an automated system that processes trucks without using any labor — a violation of their current labor agreement, which covers around 14,500 workers.
Between the lines: The ports along the East Coast have grown in importance since the supply chain disruptions of the pandemic, as companies diverted traffic away from the clogged West Coast.
- And the East Coast has continued to rise in importance as Middle East tensions and climate change force shippers to re-route.
The big picture: While some unions are just starting to dip their toes into negotiations around AI, port workers have been battling over automation for decades.
- "Since the 1960s, all major port strikes have been about one thing: the introduction of technology that makes ports more productive, temporarily and sometimes permanently, reduces their need for workers," Christopher Mims explains in his 2021 book "Arriving Today," about global shipping.
- Automation was a more contentious issue than pay during the West Coast port workers' heated negotiations last year.
Follow the money: Longshoremen's president Harold Daggett has made the fight against automation a signature issue, framing it as an existential battle for unionized workers.
- "There is going to be an explosion and the [union] and dockers across the world are going to light the fuse," Daggett said. "It's time we put companies out of business that push automation," he said at a union meeting last year.
The U.S. ports lag those in Europe and China regarding automation — partly because of "fierce labor opposition," Paul Berger reported for the WSJ last year.
What to watch: The sides have just under four months to come to terms ahead of the Sept. 30 expiration of the contract.
