Activity at the Port of Baltimore ground to a halt on Oct.
16 as International Longshoremen’s Association Local 333 went on strike after
contract negotiations with the Steamship Trade Association of Baltimore broke
down.
Following an Oct. 15 vote against the trade association’s
latest contract proposal, national ILA officials ordered the strike and
picketing began the following morning.
At the time the strike was called, five cargo ships were
docked at Baltimore, according to the port.
According to Maryland Port Administration spokesman Richard
Scher, although only ILA Local 333 is striking, the three other ILA locals that
represent Port of Maryland workers will not cross the picket line, meaning all
the port’s longshore workers – roughly 2,000 of the port’s 14,000 employees –
are refusing to work.
The ILA is the largest union of maritime workers in North
America, representing over 65,000 longshore workers on the Atlantic and Gulf
Coasts, Great Lakes, major U.S. rivers, Puerto Rico and Eastern Canada.
In April, the union ratified a new contract with the United
States Maritime Alliance, or USMX, which represents employers at 14 ports and
24 ocean carriers, thus averting a potential strike at East Coast ports.
The Port of Baltimore is ranked as the top port in U.S. for
handling autos and light trucks, farm and construction machinery, imported
forest products, imported sugar, imported aluminum and imported gypsum, and second
in the U.S. for exported coal and imported iron ore.
