Port workers return to work

Longshoremen and shippers set Jan. 15 deadline to finalize new contract.

Joshua Baethge, Policy editor

October 4, 2024

2 Min Read
Cargo ship getting loaded with crane
Getty Images/Richard Ross

Striking longshoremen at Gulf and East Coast ports are returning to work. On Thursday night, The International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance announced a tentative deal on wages. The two sides agreed to extend their master agreement until Jan. 15, 2025. Over the next three month, both parties plan on returning to the bargaining table and negotiate the remaining outstanding issues.

Shortly after the announcement, President Biden issued a statement applauding both sides for coming together to reopen the ports. He thanked them for acting “patriotically” to reopen ports and ensure critical supplies for Hurricane Helene recovery and rebuilding can be delivered. The president added that he believes collective bargaining works and is critical to building a strong economy “from the middle out and the bottom up.”

“Today’s tentative agreement on a record wage and an extension of the collective bargaining process represents critical progress towards a strong contract,” Biden said. “I congratulate the dockworkers from the ILA, who deserve a strong contract after sacrificing so much to keep our ports open during the pandemic. And I applaud the port operators and carriers who are members of the U.S. Maritime Alliance for working hard and putting a strong offer on the table.”

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An ongoing strike halting containerized agriculture product would have significantly harmed agricultural trade. A recent American Farm Bureau Federation analysis concluded that $1.4 billion in weekly ag trade was at risk.

Approximately 46% of containerized agriculture exports depart from East Coast ports. That includes more than 6% of all soybean waterborne exports.

Nearly 80% of waterborne poultry exports would have been jeopardized as well. The strike also threatened to disrupt hay, cotton, red mean, vegetable, dairy and nut exports.

According to the AFBF, agriculture imports would have been even more severely impacted. Around 73% of agriculture shipments to the U.S. arrive in containers. Of those, nearly 72% flow through East Coast ports.

Soy Transportation Coalition director Mike Steenhoek says the potential negative consequences of a port strike would have increased with compounding severity. He was among many in the ag industry welcoming news that operations along East and Gulf coast ports will immediately resume.

“It is never a good time to have a port strike,” Steenhoek says. “It was particularly an unfortunate time given our nation’s current economic challenges and the ‘all hands-on deck’ need to respond to the devastation of Hurricane Helene.”

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About the Author

Joshua Baethge

Policy editor, Farm Progress

Joshua Baethge covers a wide range of government issues affecting agriculture. Before joining Farm Progress, he spent 10 years as a news and feature reporter in Texas. During that time, he covered multiple state and local government entities, while also writing about real estate, nightlife, culture and whatever else was the news of the day.

Baethge earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of North Texas. In his free time, he enjoys going to concerts, discovering new restaurants, finding excuses to be outside and traveling as much as possible. He is based in the Dallas area where he lives with his wife and two kids.

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