President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday signaled support for unionized dockworkers' calls to bar automation at East and Gulf Coast ports amid tense labor negotiations that may result in a mid-January strike.
Trump, fresh from a meeting with International Longshoremen's Association leaders, defended the union's opposition to investments in automation at docks in a post to Truth Social late Thursday afternoon, saying "the amount of money saved is nowhere near the distress, hurt, and harm it causes for American Workers. ..."
"Foreign companies have made a fortune in the U.S. by giving them access to our markets," Trump continued. "They shouldn’t be looking for every last penny knowing how many families are hurt. They’ve got record profits, and I’d rather these foreign companies spend it on the great men and women on our docks, than machinery, which is expensive, and which will constantly have to be replaced."
Port automation has been a sticking point in ongoing labor negotiations between ILA and USMX, an organization representing port employers. Unionized port workers organized a three-day strike in early October, but resumed work after agreeing to a temporary extension of their current contract.
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In previous rounds of negotiation, USMX offered a commitment to halt the use of fully automated terminals, but pushed back against ILA's demands for complete bans on automation and semi-automation. Port employers proposed to allow some semi-automated equipment, provided both parties agree on appropriate workforce protections and staffing levels.
Both organizations continue to appear at odds over the question of automation. If the two sides are unable to break the impasse, roughly 25,000 dockworkers could strike as early as Jan. 15, which would leave containers of poultry, soybeans, animal feed, cotton, meat, bananas and other agricultural products stuck on ships or docks with no one to move them.
USMX defended port automation in a statement Thursday. "We need modern technology that is proven to improve worker safety, boost port efficiency, increase port capacity, and strengthen our supply chains," the statement said. "ILA members’ compensation increases with the more goods they move – the greater capacity our ports have and goods that are moved means more money in their pockets."
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