ILA and USMX strike tentative deal on new labour contract
The threat of a new walkout by US East Coast port workers on 15 January has been lifted after the US Maritime Alliance (USMX) and International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) reached a tentative deal on a new six-year labour contract.
In a joint statement, the two sides said the agreement “protects current ILA jobs and establishes a framework for implementing technologies that will create more jobs while modernising East and Gulf coast ports – making them safer and more efficient, and creating the capacity they need to keep our supply chains strong”.
The agreement must now be ratified by the ILA’s full Wage Scale Committee and USMX members.
The news will bring at least temporary relief to shipping operators and fruit exporters who rely heavily on East Coast ports to supply markets along the US Eastern seaboard.
Last October, a three-day strike paralysed ports on the US East Coast, triggering a surge in shipping prices and cargo backlogs at the 36 affected ports. After strking a del on pay, the two sides had yet to reach agreement on other outstanding issues – in particular automation and semi-automation.
In a statement posted on social media ILA president Harold Daggett credited the support of incoming US President Donald Trump with the striking of the new contract.
Dagget said the meeting with President-elect on 12 December last year was the main reason the ILA was able to win protections against automation for his 85,000 members, and negotiate a tentative Master Contract Agreement.
