According to today's USDA Grain Transportation Report, after cargo-handling disruptions impacted terminal and gate operations at West Coast ports over the past 2 weeks, the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and International Longshore Warehouse Union (ILWU) announced late Wednesday evening (June 14) that they had reached a tentative agreement on a new 6-year contract covering 22,000 workers at all 29 ports along the West Coast.
The U.S. Acting Secretary of Labor attended negotiations in San Francisco, CA, earlier this week to help negotiate a resolution.
Details of the agreement have not been released, and the agreement is subject to ratification by both parties.
The agreement comes after 13 months of contract negotiations, during which cargo-handling disruptions and uncertainty led to a shift in container traffic from West Coast ports to Gulf Coast and East Coast ports (see this week’s GTR feature article).