Negotiations on a new longshore union contract covering East and Gulf coast ports will resume just days before the current contract extension is set to expire.
Bargaining between the International Longshoremen’s Association and port employers represented by the United States Maritime Alliance are scheduled to resume Jan. 7, little more than a week before the current contract extension expires Jan. 15, according to a source who spoke to FreightWaves on the condition of anonymity.
The decision to resume negotiations was unexpected and came together quickly, the source said, and added that the sides had been taking informally for some time.
The restart to negotiations comes just days after liner operators Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd announced container surcharges due to take effect in the event of a strike.
“Let’s hope the parties can actually get a deal. If not, they must do another extension to avoid a strike!” said Jonathan Gold, vice president, supply chain and customs policy at the National Retail Federation, in a post on X.
There have been no formal negotiations since early November when the ILA broke off talks, saying employers were trying to force automated container handling technology into a new contract in a bid to eliminate union jobs.
The USMX responded by saying that semi-automated cranes were desperately needed on the docks, to improve efficiency and make U.S. ports globally competitive. The employers said the resulting increased container volumes would actually help create more union jobs.
Trade groups for months have been calling on the sides to return to negotiations even as providers of logistics services prepared for the worst, after a fraught year that included attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and tariffs threatened by President-elect Donald Trump that could realign global supply chains.
Those talks followed a three-day strike by 45,000 ILA workers in early October that shut down container handling and vehicle unloading at dozens of ports on the Eastern seaboard and Gulf region. Officials from the Biden administration helped broker an end to the strike, with the sides agreeing to a 16% pay raise over a new six-year master contract and current contract extension while resuming negotiations.
No federal officials are involved with the current talks, the source said.
In December Trump backed the union after meeting with ILA President Harold Daggett and his son, Executive Vice President Dennis Daggett, at his residence in Florida.
The ILA and USMX did not immediately return emails and calls seeking comment.
Find more articles by Stuart Chirls here.
Related coverage:
VIDEO: Fire damages Vancouver port coal terminal
Amid uncertain trade outlook, higher Asia-US container rates the only sure bet
Suez toll revenue drops 60%; canal tests two-way traffic
The post Source: ILA, USMX restart contract talks ahead of deadline for possible port strike appeared first on FreightWaves.
