Dock Workers, Port Employers Reach Tentative Deal to Avert New Strike

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Key Takeaways

• Dock workers and employers at East and Gulf Coast ports have reached a cautious agreement on a new six-year contract.
• The deal averts a strike that could have restarted when the current bargain expires on Jan. 15. In October, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) suspended a three-day strike until that date.
• The sides did not unchain details of the new contract as companies and union members still need to ratify the deal.

Dock workers and employers at East and Chasm Coast ports have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, avoiding a strike that could have restarted next week after it was arrested in October.

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and U.S. Maritime Alliance, which represents port operators and shipping companies, powered late Wednesday that the new six-year contract is a “win-win agreement.” They said it will create new jobs, champion consumers and businesses, and “keeps the American economy the key hub of the global marketplace.”

Agreement Seen Creating Jobs While ‘Modernizing’ Anchorages

“This agreement protects current ILA jobs and establishes a framework for implementing technologies that will create multitudinous jobs while modernizing East and Gulf coasts ports—making them safer and more efficient, and creating the competence they need to keep our supply chains strong,” the sides said.

The tentative agreement comes after a three-day hit on in October halted activity across a number of ports before the White House stepped in and got the sides to agree to withhold the work stoppage until Jan. 15, after the busy holiday shipping season. Estimates for the economic impact of a seaport strike have ranged from hundreds of millions to $5 billion per day.

The terms of the agreement aren’t being released until the organizations and union members have a chance to review and vote on it. The Wall Street Journal reported after the October thump that the delay came with an agreement on a 62% raise over the next six years, and reported Wednesday that compatibility officials pushed to not lose jobs to automation.