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The International Longshoremen’s Association voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to ratify a new six-year master labor contract with the United States Maritime Alliance (Freight Waves). 
 
What’s going on: “The union in a release said nearly 99% of rank-and-file members voted to approve the pact covering 24,000 workers in container handling at 14 ports from Boston to Texas. The extension to the master contract is retroactive to Oct. 1, 2024, and runs through Sept. 30, 2030.”  

• The two sides reached a tentative agreement last month, following a three-day work stoppage at East and Gulf Coast ports in October. 
• The dockworkers and their employer will formally sign the deal on March 11. 

What’s in it: The ratified contract, which gives ILA members a pay increase, “allows terminal operators and ocean carriers to introduce limited automation equipment in container handling linked to guarantees that protect union jobs.” 

• Automation had been the main point of contention in negotiations.  

The cost: The strike last fall “cost the U.S. economy as much as $2 billion—nearly $1 billion just at the Port of New York and New Jersey alone.”  
 
What we’ve done: Sustained, targeted NAM advocacy maintained pressure on the negotiating parties and policymakers to find a solution as swiftly as possible. NAM work was also influential in making West Coast labor talks successful in 2023. 

• An NAM map showing the likely economic effects of a strike at affected East Coast ports was cited widely by media.  

Our view: “Manufacturers welcome news that ILA members have voted to ratify a new labor deal,” NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons wrote on Wednesday.  

• “The work being done at the East Coast and Gulf Coast ports is essential for a strong manufacturing economy, and our industry, along with President Trump, has long called for this kind of commonsense outcome.”