✊Members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) are set to vote to ratify the union contract with USMX port employers.

However, ILA President Harold Daggett urged all union members who are in good standing to support the contract ratification.

But is the ratification of the USMX-ILA master contract a sure thing?

• Daggett appears concerned about the potential loss of the ratification vote on February 25, 2025. He highlighted his concerns in a Feb. 14 membership letter.

• “I hope to have the ratification vote among ILA members in good standing in all ILA ports covered by the master contract,” said ILA Pres. Daggett in that letter. “I ask that each of you also approve the agreement by voting yes to its ratification.”

• Daggett, his team, and the USMX employers engaged in negotiations after the risk of strikes at ports across the East and Gulf Coasts. Finally, a tentative agreement was reached regarding concerns over port automation and livelihood.

• Concerns about workplace automation were raised throughout much of the contract negotiations, despite USMX member companies’ guarantees to boost salaries by a record-breaking 62 percent over the six-year contract’s lifespan.

• The contract is valued at $35 billion over the lifespan of the contract.

• 40,000 East and Gulf Coast dockworkers will vote on a proposed six-year labor.

Bottom line: If ILA doesn’t ratify the tentative master contract, it will lead to more rounds of negotiations between union leadership and USMX employers. As recent history has shown us, Daggett’s leadership team and the USMX negotiators don’t get along easily.

A failure to ratify the contract could lead to more potential uncertainty for many U.S. ports.

MORE: “US East coast dock union’s “solution” to automation in new contract: work harder…” - WSWS

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✈️ Air Cargo Index (Jan. ‘25): 191.7 (⬇️from 196.3 in Dec. ‘24) - FRED

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📰OTHER NEWS IN FREIGHT📰

👿Trump takes on NYC congestion pricing scheme: Trump administration officials, namely Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, sent a letter to NY Gov. Kathy Hochul, announcing that the Federal Highway Administration’s approval of New York City’s Central Business District Tolling Program (congestion pricing scheme) was revoked.

This revocation is proving to be a key flashpoint between Gov. Hochul and Trump. Duffy calls the tolling program a “slap in the face” for small business owners and working-class Americans. Gov. Hochul begs to differ, indicating that the tolls will remain active. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority sued the Department of Transportation in federal district court, seeking to block Duffy and the Trump administration’s revocation action.

“We are doing a thoughtful, local solution. I thought the Republican Party was in favor of local control. I thought the Republican Party was in favor of local control,” said MTA CEO and chair Janno Lieber in a press conference with Gov. Hochul on February 19, 2025.

🪵Trump proposes tariffs on lumber: Donald Trump additionally announced that he is likely to consider a 25 percent tariff levy on softwood and lumber products. More here…

🇵🇦Panama Canal drama latest…

According to state media, the Chinese Embassy in Panama “refuted” claims made by U.S. diplomats and the Trump administration that Beijing has direct influence over the operations and functions of the Panama Canal and the Panama Canal Authority — the Panamanian government-owned state enterprise that operates it for crucial revenues.

In our previous newsletters, we’ve covered how the Panamanian government has gone so far as to criticize the Trump administration and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for relying on false claims to manufacture a crisis that many experts believe will have a dark reverberation into much of Latin America. Sarah Camacho, a research expert for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote, “Panama will continue to wrestle with the uncertainty that American pressure has caused domestically and with China.”

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