The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) have reached a tentative collective bargaining agreement. The Agreement covers more than 20,000 dockworkers laboring at 14 major U.S. Ports along the East Coast and Gulf Coast. The Agreement avoids a port strike that was set to begin at midnight, January 15, when the current agreement expired.

Details of the Agreement will not be made public until the rank-and-file workers have an opportunity to review the Agreement, and the Agreement must still be ratified by the dockworkers. The Agreement, however, purportedly stretches out six years. The primary point of conflict between the ports and the union involved automation at the ports and the extent to which automation would displace union workers. Although details are unknown, a news release from the parties signaled they were able to agree to modernization of the ports without displacing workers.

The ILA credited President-Elect Trump as a key ingredient in reaching the Agreement. According to the ILA, Trump’s vocal support of workers over the ravages of automated terminals was a shot “heard round the world.” It remains to be seen whether Trump’s support on this particular issue is a harbinger of the President-Elect’s overall labor policy.

We anticipate that the East Coast and Gulf Coast ports will continue to operate and likely avoid the supply chain struggles that occurred when the ILA briefly struck the ports last Fall.

For more details, contact Jim Hanson, Jack Finklea, or Don Vogel.