ILA News

ILA Ratifies Contract Extension

Wednesday, 18 November 2009 15:24

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The Journal of Commerce Online - News Story

Joseph Bonney | Nov 18, 2009

 

Vote ensures labor peace at East, Gulf Coast ports for three more years

International Longshoremen's Association members voted nearly 2-to-1 Tuesday to ratify a contract extension that promises labor peace in East and Gulf Coast ports through September 2012.

The unofficial tally was 6,417 to 3,319. It passed by large margins in the union's Atlantic Coast District, covering Maine to Virginia, and in the South Atlantic and Gulf District, whichtends from North Carolina to Texas.

The contract approval removes a big variable for shippers and carriers facing a difficult 2010. The current contract doesn't expire until next Sept. 30, but ILA leaders and employers were eager to reach an early agreement that would deter shippers from diverting cargo in advance of a contract expiration.

Besides avoiding cargo diversions, the ILA and United States Maritime Alliance sought a deal that would satisfy the ILA’s key demands without raising employers’ immediate costs, and that would provide labor peace while giving the economy time to stabilize.

The agreement immediately boosts starting pay from $16 to $20 an hour, raises top hourly pay from $31 to $32 in 2011, and narrows the gap between wage tiers in 2012 by sharply raising pay of less-experienced workers.

The agreement also removes caps on tonnage-based container royalties that carriers pay to support worker bonuses and benefit programs. Carriers would retain $42 million in royalties during the next year to offset the cost of a pay raise set for Oct. 1 under the old contract.

Opponents of the contract extension objected to giving up the $42 million and to back-loading most of the wage increases. Union leaders noted, however, that after the first year of the deal, carriers would pay royalties on every ton of containerized cargo ILA members handle. Royalties now are capped after tonnage reaches a certain level.

Link to ILA Union website article http://www.ilaunion.org/news_contract_ratified.html 

Link to Master Contract Vote  http://www.ilaunion.org/pdf/MCDEEPSEACHALLENGED.pdf