Hundreds of Louisiana longshoremen and maintenance workers walked off the job on Tuesday, shutting down the state’s two biggest shipping ports for everyday products from plastics to coffee.
Their union, the International Longshoremen's Association, is striking over a proposed contract with major shipping companies. The union wants higher pay and more protections against automation.
Picket lines formed outside of the Port of New Orleans’ gates along Tchoupitoulas Street and Parish Lane in West Baton Rouge Parish, with workers holding signs and chanting.
Blaine Ehrlich, a dock maintenance worker and president of New Orleans Local 2036, said he’s worried new technology, such as automated cranes and AI-powered gate locks, could lead to greater job losses in New Orleans and other ports in the region.
“Automation of our nation’s ports should be a concern for everyone,” Ehrlich said.”The truth is robots do not pay taxes and they do not spend money in their communities.”
Registered ILA members make a base salary of $81,000 a year, though foremen can easily bring in over six figures. In their opening offer, the union asked for a 77% increase in wages.
Other members want safer working conditions. “It could be better,” said Kerry Brown, a 37-year union member who works in Baton Rouge. “I need better working equipment for my guys.”
Both the union and the United States Maritime Alliance, the organization representing shipping companies, blamed the other for the impasse in contract negotiations.
“In the last 24 hours, the USMX and ILA have traded counter offers related to wages,” USMX said in a statement. “Our offer would increase wages by nearly 50 percent, triple employer contributions to employee retirement plans, strengthen our health care options, and retain the current language around automation and semi-automation.”
Both New Orleans and Baton Rouge ports have shut down their cargo operations due to the strike. Cruises and military-related operations are still running.
“The work stoppage is relegated to container operations and thus impacts the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal,” said Kimberly Curt, press secretary for Port NOLA. “We proactively worked with customers and terminal operators by offering weekend gate operations to minimize supply chain disruptions.”
Economists say the strike could have economic ripple effects on Louisiana businesses and consumers if it drags on for more than a few days. Nationwide, it could cost the U.S. economy $4.5 billion to $7.5 billion a week. Both New Orleans and Baton Rouge ports are major links in the supply chain for chemicals, grains, coffee and fruits.
Businesses like Westfeldt Brothers, Inc., a New Orleans coffee importer, are seeing impacts from the strike.
The company has at least five containers full of coffee from Central and South America still waiting to be unloaded from Port NOLA, said Shelby Mills, Westfeldt’s president.
If the port doesn’t reopen soon, Mills said she’d have to find another way to get their coffee beans into the country.
“We want to get it to our customers, but it is going to cost people more money because it'll be coming from farther away and so it takes longer to get to 'em and they have to pay for more fuel and more trucks and all of that,” Mills said. “We're just hoping that everyone can negotiate to an agreement and end this quickly.”
