Longshore Union, Ports Avert Strike With Agreement

With only days remaining until their current contract expired, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) announced it had reached an agreement with the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX), a group of port and terminal operators, on a new six-year contract.

“We are pleased to announce that ILA and USMX have reached a tentative agreement on a new six-year ILA-USMX Master Contract, subject to ratification, thus averting any work stoppage on January 15, 2025,” the two organizations said in a joint statement.

The union’s president, Harold Daggett, had been threatening a new strike if an agreement was not reached.

The sticking point was further port automation, which the union opposes. The union had received support from President-elect Donald Trump via his Truth Social platform. The agreement must still be ratified by union members, a process that could take weeks. The union said it would not release further details until that happens.

The ILA’s 45,000 members are concentrated on the East and Gulf coasts. West Coast longshoremen are represented by a different union. The ILA staged a three-day strike in October. The union suspended the strike after USMX agreed in principle to a 62 percent pay increase over six years that would have sent hourly wages at the top of the pay scale from $39 to $63. That truce deferred the negotiations over automation.

President Joe Biden praised the agreement.

In anticipation of a possible strike, freight publications were reporting that shippers, including Maersk, CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd, were ready to announce surcharges across various shipping routes.