PORTLAND, Maine — Forty-five thousand union dockworkers across the country are threatening to walk off the job next Tuesday in a strike, however, Portland is unlikely to be impacted.
In all, 50 full-time members of the International Longshoremen's Association work along the Portland waterfront, according to the union's New England representative Jack Humeniuk.
"We load and unload ships," Humeniuk told NEWS CENTER Maine. "We operate all the equipment on the marine terminal, we maintain it, we do the clerking work on it, and we service the cruise ship industry.”
The union said it will strike if it can't reach an agreement on better pay and protections from automation with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), which is a trade group.
However, Humeniuk said USMX doesn't send any of its ships to Portland or anywhere else in Maine. So, Maine union workers will stay on the job if there's a strike.
"Our contract with the carriers and the employers we have here is not affected," he said. "They’re not part of USMX.”
Although Maine union members won't be striking, Humeniuk added they could benefit from it like workers did 47 years ago when the International Longshoremen's Association held a two-month-long strike.
"It was worth it in the end because it resulted in one of our first major breakthroughs in a pretty big, good economic package for longshore workers in a long, long time," Humeniuk explained.
Despite this, he said no one wants a strike.
