The members of the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to ratify a new five-year contract with the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU).
The ILWU is expected to announce today whether its rank-and-file members, which voted on the proposed pact over the past few weeks, approved the agreement. ILWU leadership in early April gave a landslide endorsement of the tentative agreement, a process viewed by some as reducing the chances of rank-and-file members rejecting the contract. The contract, if ratified by the ILWU, is retroactive to July 1, 2014 and runs through June 30, 2019. The results of the ILWU vote were not yet available at the time of this publication.
“The contract features an enhanced arbitration system that is designed to support waterfront stability, capacity growth and productivity. This is especially important given the increasingly competitive environment West Coast ports face now and into the future from a variety of factors, including the long-anticipated opening of the expanded Panama Canal,” PMA said in a press release.
“The West Coast ports are an economic engine for the United States, supporting millions of workers and trillions in economic impact,” said PMA President and CEO Jim McKenna. “The disruptions that occurred during negotiations, and the inconvenience and hardship created by them, were regrettable. We look forward to building upon the incredible advantages West Coast ports offer and winning back the trust and confidence of the shipping community. This contract provides important tools to accomplish that,” PMA said.
