West Coast Ports and Union Announce Tentative Deal

The Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union reached a tentative deal for the labor contract on the West Coast Ports late last week. The PMA and the ILWU said the five-year contract for the 20,000 workers at 29 ports was reached with the help of U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez and Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Deputy Director Scot Beckenbaugh.

The two groups, which have been negotiating for almost a year over the contract that expired last July, released a joint statement: “After more than nine months of negotiations, we are pleased to have reached an agreement that is good for workers and for the industry. We are also pleased that our ports can now resume full operations.”

The terms of the tentative deal were not released.

In the meantime, the ports have a huge backlog as ships full of cargo that should have reached retailers already sat anchored offshore.