International Longshoremen’s Association members approve new six-year Master Contract
International Longshoremen’s Association members voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to approve a new six-year Master Contract covering 14,500 workers at the East and Gulf Coast ports, the ILA announced. The approval, which followed more than a year of negotiations, came eight days before the scheduled ratification vote by members of the United States Maritime Alliance.
In a separate vote on a local agreement, the ILA also announced that workers at the Port of New York and New Jersey, the largest on the East Coast, had voted by a margin of more than 3 to 1 to approve a new local contract with the New York Shipping Association. Voting Tuesday, workers at 10 of the 13 other East and Gulf Coast ports also ratified separate local agreements, according to the union. It said negotiations at the three remaining ports - Philadelphia, Baltimore and Hampton Roads - are expected to conclude next week.
“We’re obviously pleased that ILA members voted to ratify the Master Contract,” David F. Adam, USMX’s new chairman and CEO, said. “It’s in the best interest of both sides, our customers and the country that the ports continue to operate without disruption and that’s precisely what this agreement will do for the next six years.”
“On behalf of ILA members and officers at all ports, we’re thrilled this Master Contract was ratified by an overwhelming margin,” ILA President Harold J. Daggett, who led the negotiations for the union, said.
The Master Contract includes a $1-an-hour wage increase in 2014, 2016 and again in 2017, the final year of the contract. Starting pay would remain at $20 an hour but new employees would reach the top wage scale in six years instead of the current nine.
The contract also guarantees that carriers will fund the annual container royalty payments at $211 million, the amount paid in 2011, plus up to an additional $14 million for administrative expenses, and share equally with the ILA any container royalties that exceed $225 million.
Another provision of the agreement will protect the jobs of workers displaced by the introduction of new technology and automation at the ports.
Negotiations on a new Master Contract began more than a year ago to replace the agreement that expired on Sept. 30, 2012. Both sides agreed twice to extend the contract and to continue bargaining under the auspices of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.
United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd. (USMX) represents employers of the East and Gulf Coast longshore industry. They include 24 container carriers, including the 10 largest carriers worldwide, and every major marine terminal operator and port association on the East and Gulf Coasts
About the Port of Houston Authority
For nearly 100 years, the Port of Houston Authority has owned/operated the public cargo-handling facilities of the Port of Houston – the nation’s largest port in terms of foreign waterborne tonnage. The port has historically been an economic engine for the Houston region, the state of Texas and the nation. The port contributes to the creation of more than one million statewide and more than 2.1 million nationwide jobs and the generation of more than $178.5 billion of statewide and $499 billion of nationwide economic activity.