Tentative Deal Reached for U.S. West Coast Ports
The ILWU and PMA reached an agreement late on Friday February 20th.
After more than nine months of bargaining, there is a contract agreement for five years – though the details of the agreement were not yet available. The contract must be ratified and the process could take several weeks.
ILWU President Robert McEllrath and PMA President James McKenna said about the tentative contract agreement in a joint release:
“We are also pleased that our ports can now resume full operations.”
From Reuters:
The agreement was reached three days after U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez arrived in San Francisco to broker a deal with the help of a federal mediator who had joined the talks six weeks earlier.
The White House said it is “a huge relief” and in a statement the President urged:
“the parties to work together to clear out the backlogs and congestion in the West Coast ports as they finalize their agreement”
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