Follow-up: Longshoreman Strike Ends After Three Days

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance agreed to a tentative deal to end the strike. The terms of this deal include an over 60% raise for workers over six years and includes rules for automation for ports, bringing the contract for the East ad Gulft Coast union members closer in parity to the terms of the deal with the West Coast union.

The ILA walked off the job and onto picket lines following the expiration of their contract at midnight on the night of September 30, as reported last week. In the three days of the strike, billions of dollars in consumer goods were anchored offshore unable to be unloaded and thousands of shipping containers had been dumped at the wrong ports.

A longer strike would have dramatic effects on the tabletop gaming industry as products shipping from European publishers and distributors to the United States would be affected, while the knock-on effects of container shortages and increase of traffic at West Coast ports would affect imports for all over the country.

The strike has been suspended until January 15 to allow both sides to negotiate the finer details of the deal and for union members to vote on the deal. Americans responded to news of the strike in typical American fashion, by panic-buying milk and toilet paper, two products that are produced domestically and would be unaffected by the strike.

 

[Spectral Anomaly]

Americans responded to news of the strike in typical American fashion, by panic-buying milk and toilet paper, two products that are produced domestically and would be unaffected by the strike.​

Oh well, even if it's not affected by the strike I've now got enough milk in the fridge to last me through the winter.

 

[Abstruse]

May not stick, the contract is not finalized. The union was taking heavy fire on social media, and the timing was awful.

There are plans in motion to fully automate Houston's unloading facilities in the wake of this incident (they are semi-automated at the moment). Had the strike continued, the Texas Army National Guard was prepared to move in and re-open Houston.

For reference, Houston is generally the busiest port on the East Coast. The West Coast has already seen a shift towards automated systems.

The current deal is tentative and the strike is suspended until January 15 to allow final negotiations and for union membership to ratify the contract. However, the union did not "take heavy fire" on social media as, outside of a few finance types, support for the workers was almost universal with the only complaints being the timing...which is another point you brought up because it implies the strike was timed specifically because of the presidential election when that's just when the contract expired - September 30. The union members refused to work without a contract and one was not negotiated before the deadline, so they went on strike. That's how these things work. It's how every other strike the last couple of years worked between the Writer's Guild of America, SAG-AFTRA, the Teamsters strike against UPS (which was averted because of a last-minute deal), and others.

By all reports, the union is getting basically everything they asked for and it's being attributed to the Biden administration stating they would not interfere the way they did with the railroad workers strike. And social media was heavily in favor of the union with posts about the shipping catastrophe that would happen from a strike being blamed solely on the USMA for not negotiating a fair contract with the union and meeting their reasonable demands.

 

[aramis erak]

However, the union did not "take heavy fire" on social media as, outside of a few finance types, support for the workers was almost universal with the only complaints being the timing...

That's not consistent with what I've been seeing...

Union busting being a public good is a common enough attitude in certain subsets of the US population. I used to be part of that demographic. Then I had to join one.

And an interview within the last 48 hours with a FEMA deputy director implied heavily there's significant criticism based upon false statements by certain public figures... on certain social media platforms.

I've seen some very clear opposition to it in some of what Youtube shoves at me. And some of the youtubers I choose to follow have come out against it as "not nearly enough"...

You might not be seeing the flak, but I've seen some, and only a scant few thinking it's a good deal.

 

[Jd Smith1]

The current deal is tentative and the strike is suspended until January 15 to allow final negotiations and for union membership to ratify the contract. However, the union did not "take heavy fire" on social media as, outside of a few finance types, support for the workers was almost universal with the only complaints being the timing...which is another point you brought up because it implies the strike was timed specifically because of the presidential election when that's just when the contract expired - September 30. The union members refused to work without a contract and one was not negotiated before the deadline, so they went on strike. That's how these things work. It's how every other strike the last couple of years worked between the Writer's Guild of America, SAG-AFTRA, the Teamsters strike against UPS (which was averted because of a last-minute deal), and others.

By all reports, the union is getting basically everything they asked for and it's being attributed to the Biden administration stating they would not interfere the way they did with the railroad workers strike. And social media was heavily in favor of the union with posts about the shipping catastrophe that would happen from a strike being blamed solely on the USMA for not negotiating a fair contract with the union and meeting their reasonable demands.

The union was roasted heavily on TikTok and other platforms. Saw it myself.

The bad timing was the proximity to Hellene; they really took a lot of fire over that on social media. Again, saw it with my own eyes.

The Biden administration will be out of office before January 15, so any promises are meaningless. Neither party is likely to back the union with automation looming, as the prospect of long-term votes and cash switches to shippers. The recent layoff of 1600 UAW workers and the rapid development of self-driving vehicles certainly isn't helping. The long-term political clout of unions is eroding fast, as evidenced by Biden's recent treatment of the rail union.

The stevedores have been doomed since bulk container ships and RORO units moved to the forefront, but they just sped it up with this strike. When Houston goes automated, the lower costs will pull shipping south, and one by one other ports will make the switch to remain competitive. The West Coast is further along in the process, although no single port has gone fully automated yet.

 

[aramis erak]

Neither party is likely to back the union with automation looming, as the prospect of long-term votes and cash switches to shippers. The recent layoff of 1600 UAW workers and the rapid development of self-driving vehicles certainly isn't helping. The long-term political clout of unions is eroding fast, as evidenced by Biden's recent treatment of the rail union.

I'm reminded of the Michigan (bi-partisan) protections of workers, early 1990's. Michigan restricted replacing workers with automation. You could automate a given plant to increase production, but had to have as many employees after as before, and weren't allowed to terminate; Detroit auto production was already hitting demand... so, they closed plants, built new ones with the automation, pink slipped everyone at the first plant, offered rehire to a selected few in the new plant... and in some cases moved the plant's production to another state. My aunt was working in one that was doing so.

Fighting manufacturing automation results in losing manufacturing to other locations.

But shipping's not as clear cut an option to relocate. Shipping ports are where they are because demand is there. And demand is there because access to shipping and food is there, and often, a military base or mining system.. They grow in a feedback loop. And there's the service radius issue - shipping is cheapest by ship; second is rail, third is road, fourth is air, 5th is suborbital flight (a few orders of magnitude difference for space). There's money to be made if Musk, Bezos, or Beck (or the Chinese or Indian space programs) can get reliable rapidly reusable suborbital rocketry down to merely one order of magnitude above air. Rail is usually 1/3 to 1/4 the cost of road; fast ocean is often half rail's cost, and slow ocean as low as 1/6 rail. (Slow ocean is modern container ship or small bulk sailing vessels, and they're up to about 2/3 the speed of fuel oil driven shipping. They use a variety of sailing modes - my favorite is the vertical wind turbines driving the screws, as it's only issue is the strength of the wind.)

Usibelli Coal Mine once looked at building a new water port to reduce rail costs of shipping coal via Anchorage... but the cost of creating and operating a closer port was too much initial cost to justify the swap. (plus, the locals where they wanted to put it didn't want their whaling nor fishing impeded by a commercial port, nor the influx of white-folk to staff a port.) Had they been a half-again further from Anchorage, they'd have had a break-even option...

It's important to not oversimplify the calculus of the port economics... the variables for water port economics include costs per mile for rail, road, and air (and maybe soon, suborbital rocket), the local demand, the local pricing, the local available workers, the costs of coastland, the environmental impacts, and the political impacts.. Also note: a couple of companies are hoping to disrupt the rail industry by use of dirigibles (aka zeppelins) and blimps. Solar powered dirigibles could, in theory drop below the current rate of rail. Currently, it's the handling costs of load/unload - airports generally aren't set up for airships nor standard 1-2-2.25 TEU intermodal, nor are most cargo aircraft...

I hope the strike doesn't restart in January... but I'm not optimistic about it. The needs of the workers are at odds with the good of the population in those ports and their draw zones. Automation is better for the regions served, as it reduces costs a lot.

 

[Tun Kai Poh]

Also made in Canada and most likely Mexico, so there are reserves.of dairy and TP.



Side note did anyone else wonder if there was a new TTRPG where you play a Unionized Dockworker, maybe a game called Dockstrike?

Not a new game, but there was a cool murder mystery scenario for Mothership (probably quite usable for Alien or Traveller too) called Picket Line Tango, set in the midst of a labor strike on a mining base. Also there is a bear!

Picket Line Tango by Anodyne Printware

A Murder Mystery for Mothership

anodyne-printware.itch.io

 

[Jd Smith1]

Valid points. Too few industrial/trade union officials take the long view, despite decades of bitter lessons. Your leverage is only applicable if your represented labor force is highly skilled, or there are no alternatives. The ability to ship jobs overseas, or just to more friendly states, changed the ball game in the 70s, and too many unions have never adapted.

Amazon is a prime example. They are simply playing for time as they fend off union attempts, because with each year, their warehousing force includes more automation, and fewer workers.

 

[Von Ether]

May not stick, the contract is not finalized. The union was taking heavy fire on social media, and the timing was awful.

There are plans in motion to fully automate Houston's unloading facilities in the wake of this incident (they are semi-automated at the moment). Had the strike continued, the Texas Army National Guard was prepared to move in and re-open Houston.

For reference, Houston is generally the busiest port on the East Coast. The West Coast has already seen a shift towards automated systems.

How long ago was the Wire? 'Cause this was literally part of the plot for one season and I am surprised it's still going on since then.

 

[Jd Smith1]

How long ago was the Wire? 'Cause this was literally part of the plot for one season and I am surprised it's still going on since then.

What, automation?

 

[Velderan]

The union was roasted heavily on TikTok and other platforms. Saw it myself.

Which means absolutely nothing except the platforms are working as intended by prioritizing showing you content you want to see. By design they create an echo chamber.