After a year of contract negotiations that resulted in numerous delays and a decline in the movement of cargo at ports along the West Coast, union dockworkers and port operators have reached a tentative deal set to last for six years.
In a joint statement released late Wednesday, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association announced a tentative agreement on a new contract that covers 22,000 workers at 29 ports from San Diego to Seattle, some of the busiest in the world.
Details about the agreement, which is expected to be formally ratified by both sides, were not immediately released.
President Biden, who stepped in last year to urge a swift resolution, released a statement congratulating the two parties for reaching an agreement “after a long and sometimes acrimonious negotiation.”
“As I have always said, collective bargaining works,” Mr. Biden said. “Above all I congratulate the port workers, who have served heroically through the pandemic and the countless challenges it brought and will finally get the pay, benefits and quality of life they deserve.”
Mr. Biden also thanked Julie Su, the acting U.S. labor secretary, for assistance in finalizing the deal. Ms. Su, who in recent years served as head of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, was nominated by Mr. Biden in February to succeed Martin J. Walsh as labor secretary. For months, her nomination has languished before a closely divided Senate.
The outcome on Wednesday somewhat mirrored past negotiations. In 2015, as talks went on for nine months, officials in the Obama administration intervened amid work slowdowns and increased congestion at ports.
It is also the second time in six months that the Biden administration has intervened in a labor dispute that could have caused major damage to the U.S. economy. In December, Mr. Biden signed legislation to impose a labor agreement between rail companies and workers.
On the horizon is the prospect of another disruption to the nation’s freight system. The Teamsters contract with United Parcel Service, covering 340,000 workers, expires on July 31, and the union will announce the results of a strike authorization vote on Friday.
The negotiations between the Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents the shipping terminals, have focused on disagreements over wages and the expanding role of automation. (Unionized workers at the ports have average salaries in the low six figures.) Last year, the two sides, who remained quiet on negotiations for much of the year, announced incremental agreements on areas including health care benefits.
Workers have staged a series of work slowdowns at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which in recent months have lost sizable business to ports along the Gulf and East Coasts. Cargo processing at the Port of Los Angeles, a key entry point for shipments from Asia, was down roughly 40 percent in February, compared with the year before.
For decades, up and down the West Coast, ports have created an ecosystem of jobs that span warehouses, trucking and railroads. In Oakland, for example, more than 84,000 regional jobs rely on the city’s port. Roughly 13,000 truck drivers are authorized to pick up cargo at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Christopher S. Tang, a distinguished professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, Anderson School of Management, who studies supply chains, said it was unclear whether shipping volumes in the nation’s Pacific ports would rebound.
“Many firms have shifted their supply base from China to Southeast Asia and Mexico,” said Mr. Tang. “For many Southeast Asian countries, it is cheaper and faster to ship to the East Coast instead of the West Coast.”
Mr. Tang added, “West Coast ports need to do more marketing to woo shippers, importers and exporters back.”
Recently, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wrote to Mr. Biden urging the administration to intervene immediately in the negotiations and appoint an independent mediator to help the two parties reach an agreement.
Matthew Shay, president of the National Retail Federation, said the ongoing delays and disruptions have had a negative impact on retailers and other stakeholders who rely on the West Coast ports for business operations.
“As we enter the all-important peak shipping season for holiday merchandise, retailers need a seamless flow of containers through the ports and to their distribution centers,” Mr. Shay said.
On Wednesday, Gene Seroka, head of the Port of Los Angeles, said in a statement that the tentative agreement between the I.L.W.U. and the Pacific Maritime “brings the stability and confidence that customers have been seeking.”
Matt Schrap, chief executive of the Harbor Trucking Association, a trade group for transportation companies serving West Coast ports, said his organization is eager for cargo traffic to return to normal soon.
“We need the certainty,” he said. “This has been a long, hard process.”
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