ILA Labor Negotiations

The International Longshoremen’s Association and its employers at U.S. East and Gulf Coast ports are discussing an early, long-term extension of their coastwide contract that expires Sept. 30, 2018. The goal: an agreement that spares cargo interests an experience such as the one they endured during the epic 2012-13 bargaining between the ILA and United States Maritime Alliance. Those negotiations yielded a six-year contract, but only after nearly a year of rocky negotiations and repeated strike threats.

Press Releases

ILA’s First Annual Alexander Talmadge-Edward L. Brown, Sr. Civil Rights Dinner A Huge Success as ILA Leader Harold J. Daggett Is Honored at Norfolk Event

International Longshoremen’s Association

ITF Promises Support for ILA Following Talks Breakdown

International Longshoremen’s Association

RILA Statement on East Coast Port Labor Extension

Port of Virginia Begins Preparations for Potential Work Stoppage

ILA To Hold Informational Rally at Global Terminals This Friday, January 6th In Bayonne, New Jersey To Protect “Good Paying Jobs” in Port

News & Analysis

ILA-USMX reach tentative six-year US East Coast, Gulf Coast agreement

06 Jun 2018

An agreement between the International Longshoremen's Association and United States Maritime Alliance removes a great deal of uncertainty for shippers that send cargo through East Coast and Gulf Coast ports, and should spare them the need to take precautionary measures to prepare for a possible strike.

A giant crane awaits a container ship at the Port of New York and New Jersey.

ILA, USMX report ‘significant progress’ on 6-year extension

23 Mar 2018

International Longshoremen's Association and United States Maritime Alliance committees report “significant progress” during two days of bargaining on a new master contract that BCOs hope will be settled well in advance of the Sept. 30 expiration.

ILA, USMX to resume contract talks

09 Mar 2018

Although the International Longshoremen's Association has not had a coastwide strike since 1977, beneficial cargo owners are anxious to have a new agreement in place.

ILA-USMX talks in limbo amid trans-Pac contract talks

14 Jan 2018

ILA and USMX officials had hoped to agree on a contract extension that would reassure the hundreds of shippers who will attend the JOC’s annual Trans-Pacific Maritime (TPM) conference March 4-7 in Long Beach, California.

ILA bluster tactical rather than damning

07 Dec 2017

A closer look at contract extension talks for the US East and Gulf coasts suggests less cause for alarm.

ILA, USMX open talks amid optimism on contract extension

05 Dec 2017

Hopes are are high among trade participants; shippers would be delighted if a long-term deal is struck, as it would support supply-chain certainty.

Commentary

Chassis M&R uncertainty hangs over shippers

Peter Tirschwell, senior director, content, IHS Maritime & Trade

Typically, once a U.S. longshore negotiation is settled, the affected ports revert to a state of normalcy despite whatever disruption occurred during the talks. U.S. West Coast negotiations over the past 20 years have never been without disruption but were always followed by near-normal operations that lasted in some cases for years. The six years leading up to the June 30, 2014, expiration of the recent agreement between waterfront employers and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union saw only sporadic disruption. But there is a difference between then and now: The current agreement reached on Feb. 20 failed to resolve all issues and one in particular — chassis maintenance — stands out as holding the potential for sparking further disruption and uncertainty for shippers.