ILA dockworkers win 62% wage increase, suspend strike until automation threat is resolved

On the fourth day of the strike that took 45,000 longshore workers off East Coast docks from Maine to Texas, the International Longshoremen’s Association and the bosses agreed on a 62% wage increase over six years, and the union suspended the labor action on Oct.4. It remains to be seen if agreement on other outstanding issues, especially automation, can be reached by Jan. 15, 2025, when the extended Master Contract once again expires.

Until Jan. 15, workers will be covered under the old contract, which expired on Sept. 30. Because this is a temporary suspension of the strike, the ILA’s membership won’t vote until a complete new master contract is agreed to by the union and port companies.

While a 62% hike in wages is unprecedented, it is more than justified considering the international conglomerates make billions of dollars charging customers up to $30,000 for shipping goods in containers. The cost used to be $6,000 per container. Entry level wages start at just $20 an hour for operating multimillion-dollar container-handling equipment. Two-thirds of ILA members are constantly on call, with no guaranteed employment if ships are not available for work. It takes six years to reach the top wage in a job that is dangerous and requires dockworkers to toil long hours in all kinds of weather.

On the picket line in Philadelphia, over several days of the first ILA strike since 1977, dockworkers told Workers World that automation was the biggest issue. Wage increases wouldn’t be as relevant if automation reduces hours or kicks workers out of their jobs 

On Oct. 4, after celebrating the cessation of having to walk picket lines for long hours, some workers wondered if returning to work until after the holidays and giving the shipping companies a three-month head start prior to the next possible strike was ceding a lot of leverage. That remains to be seen.

Automation hurts families

Automation and artificial intelligence are big issues in a job that involves moving billions of dollars worth of cargo at 36 ports along the East and Gulf Coasts. The ILA is demanding a total ban on the automation of cranes, gates and container movements that are used in the loading or loading of freight.

Ports in Dubai, Singapore, The Netherlands and elsewhere are far more automated and use relatively fewer workers than in the U.S. Longshore workers are worried that a highly automated port being constructed in Mexico will compete with U.S. dockyards.

Under capitalism, where profits are valued higher than the lives of workers and their families, automation benefits the owners of industry. Scientific and engineering developments that eliminate labor-intensive, dangerous, boring or back-breaking jobs increase productivity but mean more unemployment for workers. Wall Street profits from automation, but computerization often de-skills workers, reduces paychecks and puts millions of workers on the street. 

The ILA is trying to get more control over the introduction of technology and not leave it to the will of the bosses. 

Unions in other industries have won contract language that guarantees employment protection if companies bring in technologies that could make their jobs obsolete. Other contracts include rights to tuition reimbursement or retraining programs so workers can shift into other roles when machines come in. 

As it is now, ILA members work a lot of overtime hours at time and a half wages. One solution would be to link any introduction of labor-saving technology to shorter work hours without any loss in pay, covering every eliminated job — especially now, when the owners found it possible to afford a 62% increase in wages.

In a more humane socialist society, instead of being a threat to livelihoods, automation would be accompanied by jobs programs to carry out socially needed projects at union pay in order to absorb the workers displaced by technology. Toil-reducing inventions would lighten the load of labor and increase the leisure time of the masses who create all the wealth. But that can only be done once the private-property system — the profit system of capitalism — is destroyed.

Build labor solidarity!

Until then, workers have little leverage in fighting automation and job cuts unless they organize themselves. There is more that union longshore workers can do to build labor solidarity if they strike again. They could refuse to abide by the Pentagon exemption under which they load military cargo even when they’re on strike. Striking or not, East Coast and Gulf Coast dockworkers in the U.S. could solidarize themselves with Palestinian workers and refuse to handle weapons bound for Israel.

The longshore workers’ struggle against automation is something all workers have a stake in. And if the negotiations don’t lead to an agreement by Jan. 15, workers in all industries, especially those threatened by automation, should join the ILA picket lines. Solidarity will make a difference on an issue that affects many millions of workers.