On September 4-5, the ILA (East Coast Port Workers Union) held a meeting of workers' representatives, and union members unanimously said that if a new contract could not be reached that met the union's demands, they would go on strike on October 1.

Formal negotiations have stalled over disputes between the union and the American Maritime Union employer group over wages, automation, health care and retirement benefits.

The contract between the union and the employer (the American Maritime Union) expires on September 30, 2024, and the union will strike on October 1 if it does not reach an agreement. If the talks go wrong, the US East Coast Port Union will organize the US East Coast workers in the US East and Gulf Coast ports to stage a strike, involving about 45,000 longshoremen, which could cause chaos in the global container shipping supply chain.

Harold Daggett, ILA president and the union's chief negotiator, said he wants a good economic deal for his members, which includes the union's opposition to port automation and exclusive port contracts.

The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) drives trade at ports on the East Coast, Gulf Coast and Puerto Rico, and its strike would affect 43 percent of U.S. imports and billions of dollars in monthly trade.

Just last year, there was a strike in the West and a 32% wage increase. This year, the East has somewhat followed suit.

It is understood that more than 400 strikes in the United States in 2023, of which the West Los Angeles/Long Beach Port strike in 2023, is also the Department of Labor sent independent mediators to force employers to compromise on the issue of wages, resolving key differences between the two sides.

In 2002, when 29 port workers in Western America went on strike for 11 days, then-President George W. Bush obtained a court injunction using the Taft-Hartley Act to force an end to the strike.

Analyzing the reasons for the possible strike, the official believes that the new contract conditions proposed by the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) require an annual hourly wage increase of $5, which will lead to a cumulative linear increase of 76% in the maximum wage of longshoremen over six years, which is unacceptable to the shipping company. Pay increases of 32%, enterprises can not stand, especially this labor-intensive industry of 90,000 people, a contract signed for six years, labor costs are higher than blood pressure.

Any work slowdown or shutdown would affect major ports - including New York/New Jersey, Houston and Charleston, South Carolina - supporting cargo ahead of key holidays and the U.S. presidential election.

The largest longshoremen's union in North America represents 85,000 longshoremen along the East Coast, Gulf Coast and Great Lakes. In addition to the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach, the remaining five busiest ports (New York/New Jersey, Savannah, Houston, Virginia, Charleston) are all located in the eastern United States.