Contacts between the trade unions continue in the United States
International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and the United States
Maritime Alliance (USMX), the association representing the
container shipping companies and port operators
of the ports of the East Coast and the US Gulf, for the renewal of the
contract of port workers of these ports. In view
of the start of the strike called by the ILA starting from next
October 1, however, the two sides have not taken any steps towards the
that allows us to move from informal contacts to
reopening of a negotiation table.
Confirming that in recent weeks the parties have communicated
several times, yesterday the ILA explained that the stalemate
remains because the USMX would continue to offer wage increases
which the union considers unacceptable. "The USMX -
specified Harold J. Daggett, president of the ILA - knows what is
our minimum wage level so that
our ILA members can ratify a new Master's degree
Contract Agreement. Several times a week - said
Daggett referring to the representatives of the USMX - they call me to
try to get the ILA to accept a more
poor. ILA members will not accept these offers
offensive that are a mockery considering the work done
from ILA's dock workers and the billions of dollars in profits
that companies carry out on the backs of their work. The fault
of the strike that in a week will close all the
ports on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts - denounced the
president of the union - falls entirely on the shoulders of the
of the USMX'.
In addition, the ILA reiterated the accusation made against the employer
to spread false news about the size of the increases
urged by the union, asserting that they would amount to an increase in
of more than 75% over the possible new agreement of the duration
of six years: "To deceive the public with misleading calculations -
said Daggett - will not help to achieve an agreement
with the ILA. Also a pay increase of five dollars per hour for
each year under a six-year agreement is equivalent only to
an average annual increase of about 9.98%. ILA members -
he added - they are as good at mathematics as those of any
other company. They are well aware of the profits made by the
companies they work for and are even more motivated to
take to the streets on October 1 if they do not get the raise
salary that they firmly believe they deserve".
For its part, the USMX, confirming the attempts aimed at convincing
ILA to resume negotiations, reiterated that it was not possible to
possible to schedule a new meeting.
Meanwhile, in view of the now imminent strike, the Federal
The Maritime Commission (FMC) has highlighted to all parties that
are subject to regulations issued by the federal agency
that these rules remain in force during any
period of shutdown of the activity of the port terminals and has
specified that it had mandated its Bureau of
Enforcement, Investigations, and Compliance to investigate any
reports of breaches of regulations, warning that
prosecute offenders by taking the most
strict provisions of the laws. He then urged ocean carriers
and port terminal operators to comply with the rules, including those that
regulate tariffs, service contracts, scheduling
arrivals at the terminals and, in particular,
Demurrage & Cost Enforcement and Billing
detention, billing of costs for parking periods of
in ports which has recently been the subject of a
New law
(
of 23
February 2024).