The first major longshoremen’s strike in more than 40 years began just after midnight on Tuesday, with the industrial action threatening to severely disrupt the supply chain in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and other major ports from Texas to the U.S. East Coast.
The International Longshoremen’s Association, which represents 85,000 members, said that about half its number who work in container shipping operations, walked off the job.
In Louisiana, about 700 port workers in New Orleans and about two dozen working at Port Allen in Baton Rouge are expected to participate.
The Port of New Orleans handles almost all of the state’s container ship volume, with capacity to move 1 million standard 20-foot container units a year. In the three months through May, it handled a record 133,845 containers, which was up 19% from the same period the previous year as port volume continued to recover from the slump during the pandemic.
Port NOLA’s Napoleon Avenue wharves, pictured here in October 2022. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune)
Baton Rouge’s port moved about 20,500 containers last year.
The Longshoremen have made little progress in months negotiating a new six-year master contract with the shipping companies’ central negotiators, the United States Maritime Alliance. The workers said they want a pay increase of 77% to make up for years of slow or no wage growth that has left them with effective pay cuts after inflation. They also want guarantees that their jobs won’t be lost to robots.
On Monday evening, the alliance said it had increased its offer to 50% raises over six years, and it pledged to keep limits on automation in place from the old contract.
A strike by East and Gulf Coast port workers hasn’t occurred since 1977, when container shipping volume was vastly smaller than it is now.
The longshoremen on the West Coast are represented by a different union and agreed a new five-year contract last summer.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.