As they picketed during a three-day strike, some U.S. dockworkers carried signs reading “Automation Hurts Families” and “Machines Don’t Feed Families.”

The union representing 45,000 striking U.S. dockworkers at Gulf Coast and East Coast ports, including the Port of Baltimore, reached a deal Thursday to suspend the strike until Jan. 15 to provide time for further contract negotiations.

But the picket signs forecast a looming issue — automation — that will bring the International Longshoremen’s Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance, which represents port operators and shipping companies, back to the table.

“The ILA is steadfastly against any form of automation — full or semi — that replaces jobs or historical work functions,” the union said in a statement last week. “We will not accept the loss of work and livelihood for our members due to automation.”

Automation is an all-purpose term covering cargo handling equipment such as driverless vehicles and remotely operated cranes. It can also refer to data systems such as gates with sensors or artificial intelligence to help ports manage resources.

The union said in its statement that the preservation of historical work functions is “non-negotiable.”

“It’s possible they could put a stop on new automation, but what historically has happened is they have job protections around it,” said Will Brucher, a port labor expert at the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations. “Protections are already in place. To keep labor relations smooth, the employers conceded that this was something that was negotiable.”

The strike covered 36 ports and came during a busy, pre-holiday period.

In recent years, U.S. ports have adopted some automation technology with “varied effects,” the U.S. General Accounting Office concluded in a report last spring.

“Some port stakeholders said automation can improve worker safety, simplify tasks, and increase efficiency,” the GAO said. But others, it said, noted “mixed effects on performance” — for example when conventional equipment worked faster than automation — as well as “reductions or changes in port jobs.”

U.S. ports’ ability to smoothly move containers into and out of terminals “is crucial for the U.S. economy,” the report said.

The vital nature of port operations gives the union leverage, according to analysts.

“It had the potential to create significant difficulties for the supply chain,” said Vijaya Venkataramani, a professor of leadership and innovation at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business.

The need to ensure supplies made it to North Carolina, Florida and other states hard hit by Hurricane Helene added to the urgency of striking a deal — even a short-term one — to get the workers back on the job, Venkataramani said.

“The ports can’t operate without these longshoremen. There is not much of a practical alternative,” she said.

“All the power was in the hands of the ILA effectively stopping cargo,” said Brucher, the Rutgers professor. “That’s muscle.”

According to reporting from the Associated Press, a person briefed on the agreement — who did not want to be identified because the agreement is tentative — said the ports sweetened their wage offer from about 50% over six years to 62%. It said the union had been demanding a 77% raise over six years, plus a complete ban on the use of automation at the ports.

The strike effectively shut down Baltimore’s port, where the ILA represents about 2,400 port workers, for the second time this year after the deadly shipping accident that destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge and blocked the channel for two months.

A lingering strike could have hurt the presidential election campaign of Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris if product shortages drove up prices.

Any wage increase would have to be approved by union members as part of the ratification of a final contract. Until Jan. 15, the workers will be covered under the old contract, which expired Sept. 30.

In a statement, the Maryland Port Administration congratulated the sides on reaching a tentative agreement and avoiding an extended work stoppage.

“When strikes occur, even for a short time, the impacts are significant,” read the statement provided by Richard Scher, the administration’s spokesman. “The port industry is one of our nation’s leading job generators and is critically important to our national supply chain. We’re delighted to have the Port of Baltimore working again.”

Scott Cowan, president of Baltimore’s ILA Local 333, did not respond to a text Friday seeking comment.

_____

©2024 Baltimore Sun. Visit baltimoresun.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.