The National Retail Federation and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) issued separate statements today on reports that the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) have reached a new five-year contract agreement.
“We congratulate the ILWU and PMA for finally coming to agreement on a new labor contract. It is now time for the parties to quickly ratify the deal and immediately focus on clearing out the crisis-level congestion and backlog at the ports,” said NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay.
“For months, the NAM has pressed the Obama Administration, Congress and the parties for a resolution to the West Coast ports slowdown. Finally, just last week, the Administration answered our call to step up its engagement,” said NAM president and CEO Jay Timmons. “And, yesterday, the parties responded to our warnings, our concerns and our needs, beginning the process of returning the ports to normal business operations and removing major barriers to global commerce.”
“As we welcome today’s news, we must dedicate ourselves to finding a new way to ensure that this nightmare scenario is not repeated again,” added Shay. “If we are to truly have modern international trade, supply chain and transportation systems, we must develop a better process for contract negotiations moving forward. We must commit whatever resources necessary to ensure that this will not happen again.”
“While this agreement is welcome news, there will be significant backlogs to clear, and everyone has a part to help restore confidence that the West Coast and the United States are open for business,” Timmons concluded.
In June, the NAM joined the National Retail Federation to release a study showing that the U.S. economy could lose as much as $2.5 billion a day if a prolonged West Coast ports shutdown occurred.
