The United States Maritime Alliance, or USMX, filed a charge against the International Longshoremen’s Association with the National Labor Relations Board to bring the union back to the bargaining table, the employer organization announced Wednesday.
The Unfair Labor Practice charge requests “immediate injunctive relief — requiring the Union to resume bargaining — so that we can negotiate a deal,” according to the statement.
In response, the ILA disagreed with the charge brought to the federal agency.
“If it wasn’t for the ILA engaging in serious and productive negotiations, most of the local agreements would not have been settled over the past year,” the union said in statement.
NLRB investigations can take years to issue a complaint or decision, Melissa Atkins, a labor and employment lawyer at Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel, told Supply Chain Dive in an interview.
USMX is asking for “an immediate decision on this action so that they can resume negotiations. An injunction is just basically saying ‘we are being irreparably harmed and as a result of this, we want this action to stop,’” Atkins said. “An action stopping would be them not engaging in good faith negotiations.”
The master contract expiration date is just four days away, and the union has made it clear of its intentions to strike on Oct. 1, if an agreement is not reached by Sept. 30. Negotiations have been halted due to wage and automation disagreements.
Rising tensions and no immediate contract renewal has ports and shippers taking action ahead of time to lessen the impact of potential cargo disruption. Some East and Gulf Coast ports have issued extended gate hours to increase processed cargo volumes prior to a possible strike. Meanwhile, several shippers are transporting cargo ahead of schedule or diverting some cargo to West Coast ports.
