Thursday evening, Oct. 3, 2024, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd. (USMX) representing ocean carriers and marine terminal operators, reached a tentative agreement to end the East and Golf Coast port strike until Jan. 15, 2025, to provide time to further negotiate a new contract.
A joint statement from the ILA and USMX noted that:
“The International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd. have reached a tentative agreement on wages and have agreed to extend the Master Contract until January 15, 2025, to return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues. Effective immediately, all current job actions will cease, and all work covered by the Master Contract will resume.”
Though the issues of automation and benefits have yet to be discussed, the current agreement has the longshoremen’s wages set to increase 62 percent over the span of a 6-year contract. This is down from the initial 77 percent the ILA was seeking and up from the original 50 percent the USMX was offering.
The end of the strike brings good news for the automotive aftermarket industry. In a previous release, the Auto Care Association stated that:
“U.S. automotive aftermarket businesses are at risk of losing up to nearly $340 million each day the strike prevents imports from being delivered.”
With this concern temporarily put at ease, attention can be turned to clearing the backlog of containers that built up during the strike. Though the strike was short-lived, recovery will take some time as the ports work to manage delayed shipments and restore normal operations.
