The International Dockworkers Association (ILA) met this week to formally launch a month-long action to ensure its members' support for the new collective bargaining agreement reached with maritime employers, which ends up two years of labor negotiations and ensures labor stability in U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast ports for the next six years。

ILA leadership will hold a meeting this week in Florida to discuss the overall contents of the six-year agreement, according to the Journal of Commerce. The meeting is being held after four days of negotiations in New Jersey and will include local wage committees from 14 ports under ILA, which will be responsible for communicating the contents of the agreement to union members in preparation for a formal vote, which will present the general agreement to local members as well as the ports Specific terms. About 45,000 ILA registered members are expected to vote by the end of February, and once approved, the new contract will take effect in the first full pay cycle in March.

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According to the sources, the board of directors of the United States Maritime Union (USMX) approved the agreement last Wednesday. However, ILA and USMX have not commented on the approval process at this time, according to the terms of the agreement, dock workers will receive a 62% pay increase over the next six years, ending a brief three-day port strike last October — the first such strike at East Coast and Gulf ports since 1977. This increase equates to an average hourly pay increase of $4 per year. In addition, the agreement stipulates that minimum staffing standards for ILA members should be ensured when ports introduce semi-automated technologies such as rail-based gantry cranes.

The outcome of the vote will determine whether the agreement can move forward smoothly, ensuring stable labor at major U.S. ports for years to come.

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Data Source: https://www.joc.com/article/ila-officials-to-meet-next-week-as-ratification-of-usmx-deal-looms-5934580