Longshoremen Agreement Extended Again, by a Few Days

The deadline for settling the East/Gulf Coast contract between the International Longshoremen's Association and the U.S. Maritime Exchange was extended to Feb. 6, the parties said shortly after a partial agreement and extension was announced Dec. 28 (see ITT's Online Archives 12122823. They said the further extension was "in view of the year-end holiday season" (here). In a note to union members, ILA President Harold Daggett said "the ILA made major gains on the Container Royalty issue that will protect our ILA members" (here).

“While a contract extension does not provide the level of certainty that retailers and other industries were looking for, it is a much better result than an East and Gulf Coast port strike that would have shut down 14 container ports from Maine to Texas," said National Retail Federation President Matthew Shay (here).