1 of 2 | President Joe Biden Wednesday afternoon will welcome leaders from the ILWU and Pacific Maritime Association to the White House to celebrate ratification of a new 6-year labor deal at West Coast ports. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI. |
License PhotoSept. 6 (UPI) — President Joe Biden will welcome leaders of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association to the White House Wednesday after finalizing a new labor contract for West Coast ports.
The White House said Biden will speak at 2:15 p.m. on the agreement, empowering workers and strengthening U.S. ports and supply chains.
ILWU President Willie Adams said in an Aug. 31 statement that the tentative contract agreement reached in June was ratified with 75% approval from ILWU members.
“The negotiations for this contract were protracted and challenging,” Adams said. “I am grateful to our rank and file for their strength, to our Negotiating Committee for their vision and tenacity, and to those that supported giving the ILWU and PMA the space that we needed to get to this result.”
The Pacific Maritime Association’s statement on the ratification said the contract provides “an important framework for the hard work ahead to overcome new competitive challenges and to continue to position the West Coast ports as destinations of choice for shippers worldwide.”
“From San Diego to Bellingham, these ports have long been the primary gateways for cargo coming into and leaving the United States, and our interests are aligned in ensuring they can effectively, and efficiently, handle the capacity growth that drives economies and jobs,” the Union said.
According to the ILWU the six-year contract “protects good-paying jobs in 29 West Coast port communities, maintains health benefits, and improves wages, pensions and safety protections.”
Pay raises for dock workers will be 32% over the six-year contract plus a one-time “hero’s bonus” of $70 million shared among the 22,000 dockworkers represented by the ILWU, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The deal follows a UPS-Teamsters new labor agreement ratified by union members Aug. 22 that provided “large raises for full- and part-time workers, creates more full-time jobs, hires 30,000 new drivers and adds workplace protections, including air conditioning in delivery trucks.”
The United Auto Workers are also pushing for significant wage increases and other improvments for autoworkers at GM, Ford and Stellantis. The deadline for that contract agreement is Sept. 15 and according to UAW President Shawn Fein, the two sides are far apart on coming to terms.
Neither the ILWU nor the Pacific Maritime Association representing employers have fully released all the contract details.
Typically raises are distributed over each contract year to reach the 32% raise total.
