Members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) Rank-and-File at Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports have been meeting for the past two weeks to review details of the Master Contract and local agreements. This is in preparation for the full ratification vote scheduled for today, Tuesday, February 25, 2025. 

All ILA members received a letter on February 14th from ILA President Harold J. Daggett that covered the master contract and informed members that the ILA Age Scale Committee overwhelmingly approved an extension to the Master Contract that will be effective October 1, 2024, through September 30, 2030.

The agreement is now set to be ratified by ILA rank-and-file members. 

All ILA members are reviewing the memorandum of agreement between the ILA and United States Maritime Alliance that spelled out the outstanding gains the ILA made in negotiations. 

“The ILA has negotiated an extension that not only protects the benefits you already have, but also enhances these benefits to ensure that you are compensated appropriately for all of your hard work,” President Daggett wrote.

ILA's President urged the ratification of the agreement in a video sent to all members, saying the contract, if ratified, "will become the gold standard among dockworker unions globally." 

The new agreement, according to President Dagget, includes record-setting wage increase, full protection against automation, accelerated wage raises for new ILA workers, full container royalty funds returned to the ILA, raises in contributions to money purchase plans, a strengthening of our MILA health care plan, and resolution of "the Vacation and Holiday dilemma."

All meetings have been ongoing for the past two weeks, with all members reviewing both the Master Contract terms and their local port area contracts with their employer associations, all leading up to the ratification vote. 

Locals have been instructed to provide a location for ILA members to vote on the ratification of the Maser and local Contracts between the hours of 7 am and 7 pm.