Shipping and Logistics
Longshoremen ratify contract with maritime alliance
Written by Stephanie Ritenbaugh
February 27, 2025
Members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) put the final stamp of approval on a new six-year labor contract with an employer group of ocean carriers and port operators.
Nearly 99% of members voted in favor of the deal with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) that covers workers at ports on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The contract is effective Oct. 1, 2024, through Sept. 30, 2030.
The groups had struck a tentative deal at the beginning of the year, avoiding a potential strike that would have affected ports from Maine to Texas. That move followed a work stoppage on Oct. 1 that threatened significant supply chain disruptions.
The strike had targeted container terminals and not the breakbulk facilities that handle most steel shipments. But parties across the steel and ferrous scrap supply chain could have been severely impacted if the strike had dragged on.
“We now have labor peace for the next six years,” said ILA President Harold Daggett. “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.”
The ILA said the agreement includes a 62% wage increase, full protections against automation, accelerated wage raises for new ILA workers, bolstering the International’s health care plan, and other benefits.
The ILA and USMX said they will formally sign the deal on March 11.
The USMX did not immediately return a call for comment.
Stephanie Ritenbaugh
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