President-elect Trump is weighing longshoremen's demands for automation protections as he prepares for a strike that could wreak havoc on the economy just days before he takes office.
Negotiations between the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Union (USMX) come more than a month after the union suspended a three-day strike at dozens of ports along the East Coast and Gulf Coast. The deal broke down in mid-November.
The two countries need to reach an agreement by January 15, just five days before President Trump's inauguration, to avoid another costly attack.
“President Trump has a very strong interest in avoiding supply chain disruptions caused by strikes,” said Malick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University. “That would throw his economic policy out of balance.”
Concerns about automation have been at the heart of the recent breakdown in negotiations, with the ILA seeking “tight language that says there will be no automation or semi-automation.”
Union longshoremen were laid off in early October as the union demanded higher wages and automation protections. The strike, ILA's first in nearly 50 years, was called off a few days later when the USMX agreed to raise wages for its workers.
When negotiations resumed in October, automation became a key issue. According to ILA, negotiations stopped in mid-November after USMX expressed its “intention to introduce semi-automation.”
USMX, the trade group that operates Eastern Port and Gulf Coast ports, says it is “not seeking technology that eliminates jobs” but that “continued modernization” is necessary.
“Unfortunately, the ILA is insisting on an agreement that will set our industry back by restricting the future use of technology that has existed in some ports for nearly 20 years, and will disrupt the nation's future supply chain.” ” USMX said in a statement.
The ILA supports modernization but claims to oppose any form of automation as it threatens the jobs of dockworkers.
“Their end goal is clear: establish semi-automation now and pave the way for full automation later,” the union wrote in a message to its members. “We've seen this bait-and-switch in other parts of the world and in other industries, but we won't tolerate it on the East Coast or the Gulf Coast.”
President Trump supported longshoremen and their calls for automation protections after meeting with ILA President Harold Daggett at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday.
“There has been a lot of discussion surrounding the 'automation' of America's docks. I study automation and know just about everything there is to know about it,” the president-elect told Truth Social. I mentioned it in my post.
“The amount of money saved pales in comparison to the pain, injury and harm it causes to American workers, in this case longshore workers,” he added.
The president's support for the ILA is a notable example of a top Republican supporting unions in their confrontation with major corporations, breaking from the party's traditionally hostile stance on labor action.
“In over 25 years of working in Washington, I have never seen a Republican take on the role of working class people. Yesterday President-elect Trump proved me wrong,” Daggett said. said in a statement after meeting with President Trump.
“He didn’t just tell us privately that he supported workers, he made it clear to the whole world.”
President Trump and the Republican Party have strengthened their alliance with the Labor Party in recent years.
Teamsters Chairman Sean O'Brien appeared at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in July, but the union ultimately bucked its nearly 30-year trend of supporting Democrats and said it would support either candidate this term. refused.
President Trump also announced last month that he would nominate Rep. Lori Chavez Delemer (R-Ore.) to be secretary of labor. Chavez Delemer is one of just three Republicans supporting the PRO Act, a bill aimed at curbing the so-called gig economy and giving workers more rights to organize.
But some labor experts question Trump's pro-union stance, given the previous administration's efforts to undermine worker rights.
“We'll see what that means,” said Patricia Campos Medina, executive director of Cornell University's Worker Research Institute. We know that Donald Trump has a record of saying things that get a lot of press and votes…we'll soon see how dedicated he is. Probably. ”
Masters added that President Trump's maneuver could be a strategic move to avoid a strike that could derail economic policy.
“Mr. Trump's hyperbole is an attempt to break the impasse,” he said in a statement to The Hill, adding, “He is using his bully pulpit to try to bring the parties together.” Sometimes, as the saying goes, you just have to kick your pants to get them back on. ”
The president-elect campaigned on a promise to lower prices in response to the surge in inflation that occurred under President Biden. But a port attack could derail President Trump's economic plans.
During the October strike, experts estimated that work stoppages could cost up to $5 billion per day. A prolonged strike could increase costs for consumers and create shortages.
Campos-Medina said President Trump's support for longshoremen puts pressure on USMX to slow the phase-in of automation.
But he suggested it was unlikely to stop the move toward automation completely.
All 10 of the largest container ports in the U.S. are using automated technology to handle and process cargo, according to a March report from the General Accounting Office (GAO).
Automation has long been a concern for workers in various industries. These concerns have been exacerbated by the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in recent years.
AI became a major sticking point in negotiations between movie studios and the writers' and actors' unions last year, with Hollywood stalled by a two-month strike.
As the January deadline for the ILA and USMX to reach an agreement approaches, Trump could try to bring the two sides together to ensure a strike averts even before he arrives in the Oval Office. be.
“The reality is that the Biden administration is an outgoing administration that no longer has much influence and has never shown any predisposition to seriously engage in this type of thing,” Masters told The Hill. .
“So, effectively, Trump is the current president and he will not hesitate to bring the parties together to see what he can do to solve this problem. “I will make sure that this issue is not included when I take the oath of office on the 20th,” he added.
But if Mr. Trump becomes president on the back of strikes, he will have to balance the competing interests of working-class voters and the business community, an important source of support for the president-elect.
“It's going to be an interesting first month for Donald Trump,” Campos-Medina said, adding: “He's going to have a tough time.”
