Nearly a week after the International Longshore and Warehouse Union ratified a new six-year contract with the Pacific Maritime Association, President Joe Biden welcomed members of both groups to the White House to congratulate them on making a deal.

What You Need To Know

  • President Biden met with members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association at the White House Wednesday

  • The meeting celebrated the two groups working together on a new six-year contract

  • The ILWU and PMA had been negotiating a new contract for more than a year

  • Wednesday's meeting was the president's latest effort to cast himself as pro-labor as multiple unions strike — or threaten to — around the country

"This contract proves that collective bargaining works," President Biden said at a White House press conference Wednesday. "It gives workers a seat at the table and ensures that thier wellbeing, security and futures are a priority. And it also delivers for employers by helping them attract and retain the best, most productive workers in the world."

The hard-fought contract between 22,000 workers and the shipping companies at 29 West Coast ports that employ them took more than a year but ultimately resulted in a deal that includes a guaranteed 32% pay increase over six years and a one-time bonus for the dock workers who continued doing their jobs during the pandemic..

In June, ILWU workers at the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Tacoma, Seattle and Hueneme shut down facilities for a day, prompting the Biden Administration to send acting Labor Secretary Julie Su to San Francisco to help with negotiations.

In an interview with Spectrum News in July, Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka praised Su for her role in negotiating the contract by keeping “everybody moving forward for the last 72 hours to reach that tentative agreement.”

On Wednesday, Su hailed the agreement -- and the White House's celebration of the accomplishment.

"The parties were negotiating for 13 long, hard months to reach an agreement," Su told Spectrum News. "And it was so great to be here to have the president acknowledge them celebrate their success."

"For the President, this is a moment to say that what's good for workers is good for employers as good for the country," Su added. "And this is just a really shining example of that."

Wednesday’s White House gathering was the president’s latest effort to cast himself as pro-labor at a time when multiple unions across the country are striking — or threatening to do so.

The 11,500 members of the Writers Guild of America and 160,000 members of the Screen Actors Guild have been striking since summer with no end in sight. While a strike among 340,000 United Parcel Service workers was narrowly averted this summer, a strike among the 150,000 members of the United Auto Workers is seen as increasingly likely and could begin next week.

Su told Spectrum News that the Biden administration is keeping a close eye on the UAW negotiations.

"The parties are at the table, they are negotiating, we respect the collective bargaining process, and everyone in this administration takes their cues from the parties and from the progress of negotiations," Su said. "At this point, they are talking, the contract has not expired. Part of respecting the process is knowing that the parties are going to go through some hard times, they're going to grapple with some hard issues.

"Parties always seem far apart until they're not," she added. "Part of respecting this process is allowing the process to really work."

The UPS and ILWU labor agreements "build on other actions we've taken during the pandemic," Biden said.

In early 2021, shortly after taking office, his administration launched a task force “partnered with the private sector to move record levels of cargo through the ports while lowering shipping and rail costs,” according to the Council of Economic Advisers.

That partnership helped reduce the backlog of anchored cargo ships that dominated headlines last year, while also reducing East-West ocean shipping prices, the White House said. As part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Biden Administration will invest $17 billion in port infrastructure to continue to expedite commerce and strengthen the supply chain.

"Under the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which we passed, we're making long-overdue investments to upgrade our nation's railroads, highways, airports and ports," Biden said. "The infrastructure law recognizes the vital role of modern, resilient infrastructure and reducing costs for American families and businesses and in creating good-paying union jobs for American workers."