ILA Reaches Deal for Master Contract, Averting Port Shutdown

Just days ahead of a widely-expected walkout, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) announced that it had reached a deal for a master contract with port terminals on the U.S. East Coast, resolving deep-seated disagreements over the future of port automation. In a statement, ILA President Harold J. Daggett credited President Donald Trump’s support for the successful conclusion of negotiations.

The contract builds on a previous interim agreement on wages, and it averts a strike action that most shippers, carriers, and forwarders had considered a near-certainty until Wednesday’s announcement. In anticipation of disruption, many ocean carriers had already announced new U.S. East Coast congestion fees effective on the date of the negotiating deadline, January 15.

“We are pleased to announce that ILA and USMX have reached a tentative agreement on a new six-year ILA-USMX Master Contract, subject to ratification, thus averting any work stoppage on January 15, 2025,” the union and the port employers’ association said in a joint statement. “This agreement protects current ILA jobs and establishes a framework for implementing technologies that will create more jobs while modernizing East and Gulf coasts ports.”

The new contract is subject to ratification by the union’s rank-and-file membership. The ILA and USMX described it as a “win-win agreement” for port efficiency, a significant departure from the language used to describe the negotiations over the past few months.

The new master contract will last six years, and the ILA agreed to keep working under the terms of the previous contract until the new deal is ratified. Details of the tentative agreement will not be released to the public just yet in order to allow both sides’ members time to review the contract; at minimum, it almost certainly contains the 60 percent wage increase that the ILA secured late last year.

The deal removes the threat of economic disruption from a coast-wide port shutdown just days before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. In December, Trump weighed in heavily on the ILA’s behalf on the key sticking point – the question of container terminal operation. “I’ve studied automation, and know just about everything there is to know about it. The amount of money saved is nowhere near the distress, hurt, and harm it causes for American Workers, in this case, our Longshoremen,” said Trump in a social media post. The message was accompanied by a photo of Trump with Harold Daggett and his son, ILA Executive VP Dennis Daggett.

On Wednesday, Daggett credited Trump for the successful contract agreement with the USMX. “President Trump clearly demonstrated his unwavering support for our ILA union and longshore workers with his statement ‘heard round the world’ backing our position to protect American longshore jobs against the ravages of automated terminals,” said Daggett. “President Trump’s bold stance helped prevent a second coast-wide strike at ports from Maine to Texas that would have occurred on January 15, 2024, if a tentative agreement was not reached.”