BRUNSWICK, Ga. — The Port of Brunswick was closed Tuesday as hundreds of members of the International Longshoremen's Association joined the picket line. They are striking with thousands of other members at ports up and down the East and Gulf Coasts.
The ILA is in contract negotiations with the United States Maritime Alliance. Union leadership is asking for higher wages and protections against automation.
According to the Georgia Ports Authority, there are 450 ILA members at the Port of Brunswick. The port was closed to all vessel operations Tuesday and will remain closed until an agreement is reached.
Members of the local ILA in Brunswick started picketing around Midnight Tuesday morning and they were still chanting and waving signs by the evening. They plan to stay on the picket lines for as long as it takes to reach a deal.
The strike is not just impacting ILA members and ports; freight companies are also feeling the impacts. Johnnie Greene is the Chief Operating Officer for Atlantic Logistics. The company transports shipping containers from ports to their customers. Most of their work is done at ports along the East and Gulf Coasts, including JAXPORT and the Port of Brunswick.
Greene said their business is already seeing impacts from the strike.
"Right now, it's about a 25% hit on what we do. So that's a big hit. That basically just goes away,” Greene explained.
Greene said the industry was just starting to bounce back from a downturn in business following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We're really getting back down to 2018, 2019 levels, which are not terrible, but considering where we were, it's a big drop. That’s why I say it’s been about an 18 month recession where it continues to go down, but it seemed to a flat line and it looked like it was coming back and coming out of this,” Greene explained.
Greene said they were able to expand their business to customers on the West Coast, but if the strike continues, it could create lasting effects on the company.
“Fifty percent of imports and exports in this country come through these ports. That's a bunch of products to be sitting and not moving. So it's gonna affect everybody. We just need to get it done quickly,” Greene said.