Americas News
Workers Threaten Port Strike in U.S. East, Gulf Coast
A port employers' organisation and a union representing 14,500 longshoremen on the U.S. East and Gulf coasts are meeting with a federal mediator in an attempt to avert a strike when the workers' contract expires on September 30, 2012 the Baltimore Sun reports.
"We want to let the session take place and then see where we are," said International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) spokesman Jim McNamara.
Talks on a contract covering 14 ports broke off last month, but the two sides have agreed to resume negotiations under the guidance of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.
The ILA says its members, who do dangerous work in difficult conditions, need protection from automation that threatens their jobs, but the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) argues longshoremen are well paid, with an average package of $124,000 a year in wages and benefits, and that they are taking advantage of overtime rules.
The strike threat comes as the industry is gearing up for the holiday season, and import cargo volume in major U.S. retail container ports is expected to be 8.5 percent higher this month than it was last September, according to the latest Global Port Tracker report.
Major container lines have announced that they will levy "port congestion surcharges" if a strike does occur, Maritime Professional reports.
