American dockworkers to resume contract talks with employers in November

The largest union of maritime workers in North America, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and a group representing employers of the maritime industry in the ports from Maine to Texas, United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), will resume Master Contract discussions in November 2024, to discuss all outstanding issues to reach a new agreement.

Earlier this month, the two sides extended the Master Contract until January 15, 2025, and reached a tentative agreement on wages that is contingent on bargaining all open issues.

The respective negotiating committees will meet in New Jersey, where they will look to agree on terms for a new Master Contract proposal that can be presented to the full ILA Wage Scale Committee for approval, and later, to ILA Longshore workers for ratification.

To remind, dockworkers working at America’s major ports on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts reached a tentative agreement on wages, earlier this month, to settle the industry’s biggest work stoppage in nearly half a century.

The deal ended the biggest work stoppage of its kind in nearly half a century, which blocked unloading of container ships from Maine to Texas and threatened shortages in some imported items, triggering a backlog of anchored ships outside major ports.

The strikes threatened to cause chaos to US supply chains as ports on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts were forced to shutter.

Business groups had been calling on the Biden administration to order strikers back to work.

White House officials had calculated that, if the strike lasted longer than two weeks, the work stoppage and slowdown of commerce could have had an impact on the October jobs data and America’s economic growth, which would have been felt by consumers when they were headed to the polls.

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) agreed to end the strike, to extend the Master Contract until January 15 and to return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues.

“The ILA and USMX welcome the opportunity to return to the bargaining table and get a new agreement in place as soon as possible,” they said.

The two sides said they will not discuss details of negotiations with the media prior to these meetings.