The contract negotiations between the ILWU and PMA began May 10^th in San Francisco. It has been posted on a few trade publications that the ILWU requested to suspend further negotiations until June 1^st. The following are the key points:

The current contract expires July 1^st at 5pm.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union represents longshoremen at all the West Coast ports, including the ports Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Portland, Tacoma and Seattle.
The current contract—an agreement between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and employer group Pacific Maritime Association (PMA)—is a three-year extension of the prior contract.
Since so much has changed since 2019, when the extension took effect, contract negotiations could be more complex than last time.
The main points for agreement are compensation and port automation, against a backdrop of evolving Covid variants and extreme demand for throughput.
The PMA’s members are cargo carriers, terminal operators, and stevedores along the US West Coast. The ILWU represents dock and warehouse workers on the West Coast of US and Canada, but only the US contract is up for negotiation this year.
That leaves the greatest potential for delays in the ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach, Oakland, and Seattle/Tacoma.
By the numbers:
- 29: The number of ports on the U.S. West Coast with ILWU workers.
- 22,000: The number of dockworkers covered by the ILWU collective bargaining agreement.
- 70: The number of ocean carriers and marine terminal operators the PMA represents in the collective bargaining process.