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36 American East Coast ports opened early contract talks

36 American East Coast ports opened early contract talks

Posted on February 13, 2023   |  

From Maine to Texas, union locals that represent dockworkers at 36 ports opened contract talks with employers ahead of the current multiyear agreement’s expiration next year. 

The aim was to identify local issues by February mid so that the ILA (The International Longshoremen’s Association) can negotiate a master agreement with the United States Maritime Alliance, which represents ocean carriers and terminal operators across Gulf Coast and East Coast ports. 

The current contract expires on September 30, 2024, and since midsummer, negotiations on the West Coast have been stalled and members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union have been working without a contract since then. 

The dockworkers and employers didn't agree to extend their previous contract so provisions against job actions during the negotiations expired. 

On the West Coast, worker-employer relations contributed to double-digit declines in import volumes at the end of 2022 at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. 

In the same period, for a short time, the Port of New York and New Jersey were the busiest ports in the country; the Port of Houston and Georgia’s Port of Savannah also benefited from freight diversions away from the West Coast.