Potentially crippling port strike averted after dockworkers, ports and shipping companies reach a tentative deal

The United States Maritime Alliance said on Wednesday it reached a tentative agreement on a new six-year master contract with the International Longshoremen’s Association.

A potentially crippling strike up and down America’s East and Gulf Coasts has been avoided – at least for now – after longshoremen and the shipping and port companies reached a tentative deal on a new contract Wednesday. The United States Maritime Alliance, the group representing ship lines and port and terminal operators, which uses the acronym USMX, and the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), a union which represents 50,000 members who fill 25,000 jobs spread between three dozen locations at 14 port authorities from Maine to Texas, jointly announced that they agreed on a six year deal Wednesday. The deal is not complete until it is ratified by the union’s membership. Without a deal, the port workers were set to go on strike on the morning of January 16. “We are pleased to announce that ILA and USMX have reached a tentative agreement,” the two sides said in a joint statement. “This agreement protects current ILA jobs and establishes a framework for implementing technologies that will create more jobs while modernizing East and Gulf coast ports – making them safer and more efficient, and creating the capacity they need to keep our supply chains strong.” “This is a win-win agreement that creates ILA jobs, supports American consumers and businesses, and keeps the American economy the key hub of the global marketplace, the two sides added.” The ILA and USMX reached a deal on wages in October, ending a three-day strike. They sent workers back to work and negotiators back to the table to work out the rest of the contract. Negotiators met on Tuesday for the first time since mid-November.