Dockworkers throughout East Coast, including Red Hook Container Terminal, go on strike

It could push up prices and cause shortages if it lasts for weeks.

October 1, 2024 Tom Krisher and Tassanee Vejpongsa, Associated Press, and Raanan Geberer, Brooklyn Eagle

Striking dockworkers, members of the International Longshoremen’s Association, picketed outside the Red Hook Container Terminal. Photo by Ed Lefkowicz

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Dockworkers at ports from Maine to Texas began walking picket lines early Tuesday in a strike over wages and automation that could reignite inflation and cause shortages of goods if it goes on more than a few weeks.

The contract between the ports and about 45,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association expired at midnight, and even though progress was reported in talks on Monday, the workers went on strike. The strike affecting 36 ports is the first by the union since 1977. On the West Coast, the ports are affiliated with a different union.

In Brooklyn, the strike is affecting the Red Hook Container Terminal, also known as the Red Hook Containerport, at Pier 10, part of the New York City Economic Development Corporation’s Brooklyn Marine Terminal site. In May of this year, the EDC acquired control of the entire site, including the Container Terminal, from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in a land swap, according to an article in the Eagle by Mary Frost.

The Red Hook Container Terminal’s own website describes the facility as “a 65-acre full-service container port with over 2,000 feet of deep-water berth, four ship-to-shore gantry cranes, an on-dock U.S. Customs Cargo Exam warehouse and over 200,000 sf of dry warehouse capabilities. … millions of pounds of fresh and frozen perishable products arrive for distribution in the NY metro area.”

Shipping containers are stacked in the Port of New York and New Jersey in Elizabeth, N.J., May 20, 2021. AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File

A YouTube video produced by “Freedomnews TV” shows striking union workers outside the Red Hook facility. They held signs with slogans like “No Work Without a Fair Contract” and “Fight Automation, Save Jobs.” One union member, seeing the camera, gave a thumbs-up sign and yelled, “ILA all the way!” A passing Sanitation Department truck honked its horn to show support, and the strikers cheered.

Workers began picketing at the Port of Philadelphia shortly after midnight, walking in a circle at a rail crossing outside the port and chanting “No work without a fair contract.”

The union had message boards on the side of a truck reading: “Automation Hurts Families: ILA Stands For Job Protection.”

At Port Houston, at least 50 workers started picketing around midnight local time carrying signs saying “No Work Without a Fair Contract.”

The U.S. Maritime Alliance, which represents the ports, said Monday evening that both sides had moved off of their previous wage offers. But no deal was reached.

The union’s opening offer in the talks was for a 77% pay raise over the six-year life of the contract, with President Harold Daggett saying it’s necessary to make up for inflation and years of small raises. ILA members make a base salary of about $81,000 per year, but some can pull in over $200,000 annually with large amounts of overtime.

Containers are moved at the Port of New York and New Jersey in Elizabeth, N.J., on June 30, 2021. AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File

But Monday evening, the alliance said it had increased its offer to 50% raises over six years, and it pledged to keep limits on automation in place from the old contract. The union wants a complete ban on automation. It wasn’t clear just how far apart both sides are.

“We are hopeful that this could allow us to fully resume collective bargaining around the other outstanding issues in an effort to reach an agreement,” the alliance statement said.

In a statement early Tuesday, the union said it rejected the alliance’s latest proposal because it “fell far short of what ILA rank-and-file members are demanding in wages and protections against automation.” The two sides had not held formal negotiations since June.

“We are prepared to fight as long as necessary, to stay out on strike for whatever period of time it takes, to get the wages and protections against automation our ILA members deserve,” Daggett said in the statement. “They must now meet our demands for this strike to end.”

The alliance said its offer tripled employer contributions to retirement plans and strengthened health care options.

Supply chain experts say consumers won’t see an immediate impact from the strike because most retailers stocked up on goods, moving ahead shipments of holiday gift items.

But if it goes more than a few weeks, a work stoppage would significantly snarl the nation’s supply chain, potentially leading to higher prices and delays in goods reaching households and businesses.

If drawn out, the strike will force businesses to pay shippers for delays and cause some goods to arrive late for peak holiday shopping season.

It also could snarl exports from East Coast ports and create traffic jams at ports on the West Coast, where workers are represented by a different union. Railroads say they can ramp up to carry more freight from the West Coast, but analysts say they can’t move enough to make up for the closed Eastern ports.

“If the strikes go ahead, they will cause enormous delays across the supply chain, a ripple effect which will no doubt roll into 2025 and cause chaos across the industry,” noted Jay Dhokia, founder of supply chain management and logistics firm Pro3PL.

The strike comes just weeks before the presidential election and could become a factor if there are shortages. Retailers, auto parts suppliers and produce importers had hoped for a settlement or that President Joe Biden would intervene and end the strike using the Taft-Hartley Act, which allows him to seek an 80-day cooling off period.

But during an exchange with reporters on Sunday, Biden, who has worked to court union votes for Democrats, said “no” when asked if he planned to intervene in the potential work stoppage.