The U.S. East and Gulf Coast port employers, represented by the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX), and the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) union reached a tentative deal—just days before the new Jan. 15, 2025, contract expiration date.
In a joint statement released Jan. 8, the two sides said they struck a tentative agreement “on all items for a new six-year Master Contract”; they will “continue to operate under the current contract” until the union can meet with its full Wage Scale Committee and schedule a ratification vote, and USMX members can ratify the terms of the final contract.
“This agreement protects current ILA jobs and establishes a framework for implementing technologies that will create more jobs while modernizing East and Gulf coast ports—making them safer and more efficient, and creating the capacity they need to keep our supply chains strong,” USMX and ILA said. “This is a win-win agreement that creates ILA jobs, supports American consumers and businesses, and keeps the American economy the key hub of the global marketplace.”
Details of the new tentative agreement will not be released, the parties said, “to allow ILA rank-and-file-members and USMX members to review and approve the final document.”
CNN on Jan. 9 reported that “a source familiar with the negotiations said that as the final details of the contract were being worked out this week, there was a compromise reached on technology at the ports.”
“Fully automated technology is still out of the contract, but it does allow for semi-automation,” the media outlet said. “USMX can implement new technology like cranes that can perform some tasks without human involvement. However, the contract gives the ILA guaranteed jobs directly associated with any new technology, the source said. Management had argued ports need to introduce technology to improve productivity – not to eliminate union jobs. But the union said it was not convinced its members would go unhurt by new technology.”
In October, ILA and USMX ended a three-day strike, reaching a compromise on wages, “which increased hourly pay by 10% in the first year and 62% over the six-year tentative deal,” according to CNN, which added that “[w]orkers returned to work and negotiators were sent back to the table to work out the rest of the contract.” ILA and USMX “negotiators met on Tuesday [Jan. 7] for the first time since mid-November,” according to the media outlet.
Industry last month called on the parties to resume negotiations. The Association of American Railroads, American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, National Industrial Transportation League and American Chemistry Council were among the more than 270 federal, state, and local trade associations and government agencies that co-signed a letter to ILA President Harold Daggett and USMX Chairman and CEO David Adam.
Industry Response
Alliance for Chemical Distribution (ACD) President and CEO Eric R. Byer on Jan. 9 issued this statement following the tentative agreement announcement: “ACD is pleased the ILA and USMX have agreed to a tentative, long-term master contract well before the negotiating deadline. The failure of ILA and USMX to reach this agreement would have resulted in significant economic impacts, threatening the flow of essential goods through increased reroutes, delays, and congestion. ACD urges both parties to ratify this agreement without delay to provide greater certainty to the countless businesses that rely on these critical East and Gulf Coast ports.”
Griff Lynch, President and CEO of Georgia Ports Authority, on Jan 9 said: “We’re pleased the ILA/USMX reached a tentative agreement and we want to thank both organizations for their efforts in the collective bargaining process. We will now work closely with Gateway Terminals and our local ILA partners to deliver high productivity port operations to make our supply chains the most competitive in our industry.”
FEB. 28 UPDATE
Rank-and-file members of the ILA at Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports on Jan. 25 ratified provisions of the new six-year Master Contract with the USMX, ILA reported. The extension to the Master Contract will be effective Oct. 1, 2024, through Sept. 30, 2030.
“I am pleased to announce that thousands of ILA longshore workers covered by this Master Contract today have overwhelming supported its ratification with nearly 99% in favor, and we now have labor peace for the next six years,” said ILA President Harold Daggett, who served as the union’s chief negotiator. “It was a tough contract to negotiate and even took a three-day coast-wide strike in October 2024. The ILA stayed strong and unified throughout and successfully won the greatest contract in ILA history and maybe the strongest collective bargaining agreement ever negotiated by any union.”
Daggett described the new agreement as the “gold standard” for dockworker unions globally. The ILA-USMX agreement includes a “62% wage increase; full protections against automation; accelerated wage raises for new ILA workers; full container royalty funds returned to the ILA; raises in contributions to money purchase plans; a strengthening of the International’s health care plan called MILA; and a resolution of the vacation and holiday dilemma, among many other benefits.”
Daggett also praised his USMX negotiating counterpart Paul DeMaria, the lead negotiator for management, in helping to bring about a settlement.
“Thank goodness USMX made Paul DeMaria the lead negotiator for management’s side when they did,” Daggett said. “Paul was uniquely qualified to move negotiations in the right direction and his appointment to this new role was instrumental in avoiding a second strike.”
The ILA and USMX announced that they will formally sign this new six-year agreement on March 11, 2025.
Further Reading:
- ITS Logistics: U.S. West Coast Ports Experience ‘Significant Import Volumes Amid Fears of January ILA Strike’
- Rail-Mounted Gantry Cranes at Center of Port Labor Talks Impasse
- Port Strike Fears Grow as USMX and ILA Fail to Hammer Out Automation Issues
- Port strike: Tentative agreement sees ILA go back to work
- Port strike begins as ILA rejects last minute USMX offer
- ITS Logistics: Potential ILA Strike Fuels Peak-Season ‘Uncertainty’
- Port strike: No good news
- USMX seeks NLRB intervention as port strike looms
- VIDEO: ILA ramps up port strike rhetoric
- U.S. port strike fears stoked as ILWU pledges solidarity with ILA
