SAVANNAH — Union dockworkers at the Georgia Ports Authority marine terminals in Savannah and Brunswick went on strike Tuesday, the first work stoppage since 1977.
About 100 International Longshoremen’s Association members picketed outside the Garden City Terminal’s main gate Tuesday, with several wearing bright orange T-shirts promising a “war” with the shipping companies and port operators that make up the United States Maritime Alliance.
A labor agreement between the dockworkers and the shippers expired at midnight Monday, leading to the closure of the Georgia terminals and 13 other ports along the East Coast and Gulf Coast. The Port of Savannah is the third-busiest container cargo facility in the nation.
“The ILA will continue to fight until its members receive the fair contract they deserve,” read a statement issued by a Savannah-based ILA representative on Tuesday.
The dockworkers and shippers have not met to negotiate a new contract since mid-July and have spent recent days blaming each other for the impasse. Federal labor officials reached out to the stakeholders last week to encourage talks, but President Joe Biden said Sunday he had no intention of intervening to prevent a strike.
Credit: Adam Van Brimmer
Credit: Adam Van Brimmer
A White House spokesperson said the administration told U.S. Maritime Alliance officials to put forward a “fair agreement” that “reflects the success of the companies.” The container shipping industry saw profits soar during the post-pandemic surge of 2022 and then peak again in the first half of this calendar year. The longshoremen’s association has been operating under the same labor contract since 2018.
Wages and automation are the major points of contention in the labor talks. Here’s what to know about the dispute and the strike.
Where does Georgia Ports Authority fit in?
The state-backed ports authority operates Georgia’s terminals but is not a member of the USMX and is not a stakeholder in the negotiations.
Authority Chief Executive Griff Lynch announced a plan to shutter Georgia’s ports last week out of respect for the Georgia Ports Authority’s relationship with the International Longshoremen’s Association. About 2,500 ILA members work alongside more than 1,400 GPA personnel on the docks in Savannah and Brunswick.
Lynch reported strong cargo volumes for the ports ahead of the strike. He told the authority’s board of directors last Tuesday that shippers were “front-loading” cargo in anticipation of the strike. Still, the threat of the work stoppage this summer resulted in the GPA losing business to West Coast ports, where union dockworkers negotiated a new labor agreement in 2023. The Port of Long Beach (California) recently reported its best August ever.
This trend is troubling because the GPA had grown its market share by luring business away from West Coast ports, particularly since the 2016 opening of an expanded Panama Canal, which allowed larger freighters easier access to East Coast ports. Savannah and other ports on the East Coast and Gulf Coast handle 56% of U.S. container traffic, up from 44% in 2003, as shippers shifted routes away from the West Coast.
With the strike, the West Coast ports are reclaiming some of that business, Lynch said.
“If you look at the numbers on the West Coast, there’s no question they are having diversions away from us,” Lynch said. “We worked very hard for years to gain market share and now we’re losing it. Hopefully, we can win it back.”
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
What do ILA members do at the Georgia Ports?
Dockworkers load and unload cargo ships, working in conjunction with GPA-employed crane operators and other heavy-lift personnel. Georgia Ports ILA crews perform tasks in three key areas, each represented by a different union chapter.
The largest — the 1,600-member ILA 1414 — handles cargo at the Savannah terminals. ILA 1423, a chapter with 235 members, does likewise at the Port of Brunswick facilities. Separate union organizations, ILA 1475 in Savannah and ILA 1863 in Brunswick, perform clerk and checker duties, logging cargo as it moves between ship and shore and inspecting trucks as they enter and leave port properties.
Another ILA local, 2046, is made up of mechanics who repair shipping equipment, such as containers, trailer chassis and refrigerated units.
What is behind the pay dispute?
The ILA wants a 77% pay bump for its members over the life of the next six-year contract, or a $5-an-hour raise each a year. This would push the average pay to $69 an hour or $143,000 a year — not including overtime — by 2030. U.S. Maritime Alliance leaders have balked at that number, pointing to the West Coast port negotiations a year ago. Longshoremen there got a 32% increase that tops out at $60 an hour or $124,800 a year in 2027.
Georgia union members say the pay increases under the now-expired contract barely covered cost-of-living increases. Meanwhile, the Georgia Ports Authority saw its profits grow from $148 million in 2019, the first year of the expired contract, to $371.8 million in 2022 at the height of the pandemic surge. The GPA reported $261.7 million in profits in 2023.
“Even though the ILA’s members worked tirelessly during the pandemic to ensure that the nation’s commerce flowed ... employers refuse to compensate the ILA’s members fairly,” the ILA statement read. “Over the last several years, the net revenues of these companies have grown astronomically ... while the ILA members’ increases do not even cover the cost of inflation.”
Credit: NYT
Credit: NYT
What’s the deal with automation?
As in most industries, innovation has drastically changed the shipping sector, particularly in the size and scope of its workforce. The evolution on the docks began in the 1950s with the introduction of containers to move cargo but has accelerated in the digital age to the point where some ports, including one in the Netherlands and several in China, are fully automated.
The dockworkers’ unions have worked to slow the introduction of efficiency-focused technologies into port operations. The ILA has particularly held a hard line, pushing back against automations that eliminate jobs, such as optical scanners at facility gates and remote-operated cranes in container yards.
The use of camera technology at the gates of the Port of Mobile (Alabama) contributed to the breakdown of negotiations earlier this year.
And, on the West Coast, automation has advanced since a 2008 labor contract opened the door to technologies such as driverless trucks to move cargo around ports.
The GPA has implemented some technological advances in its operations but not at the expense of ILA jobs. Logistics software that tracks container movements is used in GPA facilities, with members of the clerks and checkers unions employing tablet computers to monitor loading and unloading data.
At the port gates, union members coordinate the flow. They say the importance of the roles goes beyond keeping track of cargo — the men and women on the ground look for damage to containers and truck chassis that could easily be missed by optical scanners.
“Automation of our nation’s ports should be a concern for everyone,” read the ILA statement. “Robots do not pay taxes and they do not spend money in their communities.”
Automation is of critical concern in the next contract because of the rapid advances in artificial intelligence. The ports that already use automation have humans who interface with software or remotely control equipment. AI could reduce those numbers as well.
Could strike affect Georgia’s ports model?
Terminals in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina operate differently than other East Coast and Gulf Coast ports, with port authority staffers working alongside dockworkers in the loading and unloading of ships rather than the ILA handling all cargo movements. The GPA’s Lynch credits this so-called hybrid model for Georgia’s efficiencies and success.
Credit: Adam Van Brimmer
Credit: Adam Van Brimmer
The ILA has long challenged the operating structure. The 2012 labor agreement between the ILA and the U.S. Maritime Alliance leaders granted the ILA full control of any newly built container terminals at hybrid ports. A new terminal at the Port of Charleston (South Carolina) is fully staffed by the ILA, and Georgia is in the midst of retrofitting one facility, Ocean Terminal in Savannah, and planning the construction of a new venue across the Savannah River from Ocean Terminal.
The still-to-be-negotiated labor agreement could include new language regarding the future of hybrid ports.
What’s next?
With the holiday season approaching — and with it a surge in goods shipping — the ILA and U.S. Maritime Alliance leaders have reason to resolve the strike quickly. Lynch estimates the surge in volume the state’s ports have seen in recent months contains goods that normally would have come through the terminals in the first half of October anyway. But he warned a lengthy stoppage would hurt the supply chain in Georgia.
When all East Coast and Gulf Coast ports are taken into account, the strike is projected to cost the U.S. economy as much as $5 billion daily, according an analysis from J.P. Morgan.
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