The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) is holding Wage Scale Committee Meetings next month in New Jersey. These meetings aim to review demands for ongoing contract negotiations. However, they also serve to prepare for a potential coast-wide strike if a new agreement isn’t reached by September 30.

“We are meeting to discuss our ILA demands with our ILA Wage Scale Committee delegates for the next contract we sign with USMX,” said ILA President Harold J. Daggett. With less than 30 days before our current Master Contract ends, we must prepare our members for a strike on October 1, 2024. It’s been more than four decades since our last strike in 1977.”

The ILA will hold intensive meetings on September 4 and 5 to finalize contract demands and prepare locals for a possible strike in early October.

“My membership is 100 per cent behind the ILA leadership team, and they know we want to deliver the best contract for them,” Daggett added. “If we must strike on October 1, they are ready to ‘hit the streets’ if our demands are not met.”

Along with announcing the meetings, the ILA has informed employer groups that the current agreement will not be extended beyond September 30, 2024. This notice complies with the “60-Day Notice” requirement under Section 8 of the Labor-Management Act of 1947.

Last month, Daggett warned that a strike at Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports was becoming more likely due to slow contract negotiations with USMX. They rejected contract extensions and interference from the Biden Administration or the Department of Labor. Any strike action would occur two months before the U.S. presidential election.

The USMX-ILA Master Contract, ratified in September 2018, governs around 14,500 port workers on the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts and will expire at the end of September. The ILA canceled negotiations with USMX in June after discovering APM Terminals and Maersk Line were using an Auto Gate system that bypasses ILA labor. The ILA stated they wouldn’t meet with USMX until this issue is resolved.

The union is also awaiting an audit on jobs created by new technology, a report they’ve expected for nearly two contract periods. Concerns have been raised about the growing number of IT personnel on marine terminals, with the ILA accusing APM and Maersk’s IT departments in Charlotte, North Carolina, of encroaching on their jurisdiction.

The last coast-wide strike of the ILA was in 1977.