What is the ILA top rate in 2026?

Under the 2024-2030 USMX-ILA Master Contract, the top straight-time basic rate is $54.00 an hour from October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027, for container and ro-ro work. It goes to $57.00 on October 1, 2027, $60.00 in 2028 and $63.00 in 2029.

What does a new ILA longshoreman start at?

$27.00 an hour for new employees who entered the industry from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2026, and $30.00 for those who enter on or after October 1, 2026. The rate steps up toward the top rate over four qualified anniversary years.

What is a qualified anniversary year under the ILA master contract?

For contract years after September 30, 2024, a year in which you are credited with at least 800 hours of service. It was 700 hours from October 2009 through September 2024.

Why is my ILA pay different from another port's?

The master contract sets the wage scale for container and ro-ro work coastwide, but starting times, meal hours, manning, holidays and guarantees are bargained port by port. Two members on the same rate can be paid differently for the same hours because of those local rules.

Does the ILA master contract cover bulk and breakbulk work?

The 2024-2030 Memorandum of Settlement covers only container and ro-ro operations. Other work is governed by local agreements.

ILA pay port to port: what the master contract sets and what your local agreement decides

ILA pay on the East and Gulf Coasts is set at two levels. The USMX-ILA Master Contract sets the wage scale and the coastwide funds. Your port's own agreement sets most of how a day is actually paid: start times, meal hours, gang sizes, holidays and guarantees.

That's why two guys on the same rate, one in Newark and one in Savannah, can work the same hours and get different checks. Here's the split, from the 2024-2030 USMX-ILA Memorandum of Settlement (MOS), the 2018-2024 Master Contract it amends, and a few district agreements.

What the master contract sets

The term. Six years, "from October 1, 2024 through and including September 30, 2030." The MOS says that term also applies to local agreements covering container and ro-ro work.

The scope. The MOS covers "only container and ro-ro operations." Bulk, breakbulk and other work run on local agreements.

The wage scale. Your straight-time basic rate depends on how many Qualified Anniversary Years of service you have on October 1 of each contract year. Each contract year runs October 1 to September 30. The MOS table:

Year	0 yrs	1	2	3	4+
2024-25	$27.00	$31.50	$36.00	$40.50	$45.00
2025-26	$27.00	$32.75	$38.50	$44.25	$50.00
2026-27	$30.00	$36.00	$42.00	$48.00	$54.00
2027-28	$30.00	$36.75	$43.50	$50.25	$57.00
2028-29	$30.00	$37.50	$45.00	$52.50	$60.00
2029-30	$30.00	$38.25	$46.50	$54.75	$63.00

Members on the old top rate of $39.00 got $6.00 on October 1, 2024, then $5.00, $4.00, $3.00, $3.00 and $3.00 in the years after.

New hires. "$27.00 per hour" for new employees who enter between October 1, 2024 and September 30, 2026, and "$30.00 per hour" on or after October 1, 2026. Each anniversary moves you a quarter of the way from the bottom rate to the top: 25% after the first, 50% after the second, 75% after the third, and the full rate after the fourth.

The qualified year is now 800 hours. "A Qualified Anniversary Year for all Contract Years after September 30, 2024 is one in which the employee is credited with at least 800 hours of service." From October 2009 through September 2024 it was 700. A short year doesn't count toward your step.

The coastwide funds. Container Royalties are Article XII. MILA, the health plan, is Article XIII. The MOS added an extra $2.00 an hour to the Money Purchase Plan from October 1, 2024, and $1.00 an hour more for local fringe benefits, paid to the local vacation and holiday fund unless USMX and the ILA agree otherwise.

Automation. "There shall be no fully-automated terminals developed and no fully-automated container handling equipment used during the term of this Master Contract," with fully automated defined as "devoid of human interaction." Also: "No remotely operated ship-to-shore cranes shall be used at any port during the term of this Master Contract."

What the master contract leaves to your port

Article I, Section 4 of the Master Contract: the port associations "will engage in local negotiations on those bargaining subjects left open to local negotiations," and local agreements "must be consistent with and will supplement the terms and conditions of the Master Contract." Section 3 says the master contract "as supplemented by local bargaining constitutes a complete and operative labor agreement." You need both documents to know your pay.

What's left open, in the contract's own words:

Start times and meal hours. "Starting times and meal hours are local issues."
Manning. "Manning, staffing, and the number and use of employees in all crafts shall be the subjects of local bargaining." The MOS adds that "port operations vary from port to port."
Holidays and guarantees. We found no master holiday list and no master guarantee in the contract text. The districts set them.

Three examples of how far apart ports are

Holidays in the South Atlantic. The South Atlantic and Gulf Coast District agreement for 2024-2030 gives "16 paid holidays" to longshoremen and clerks and checkers who worked 800 hours or more in the current contract year, or 700 for pre-existing employees who meet the vacation and holiday criteria. Its list includes Lincoln's Birthday on February 12, Thomas Gleason's Birthday on March 17, Columbus Day and Election Day.

Holidays in New York and New Jersey. The NYSA-ILA 2024-2030 MOS says scrap and bulk cargo workers credited with 700 hours in the prior or current contract year "shall receive all seventeen paid holidays even if their worksite is closed for the holiday."

The 11 PM start in Philadelphia. The PMTA and Local 1242 common issues agreement for 2024-2030: "All crafts ordered in at the 11:00 P.M. starting time shall have a seven (7) hour guarantee. Six (6) hours shall be paid at time and one-half, and one (1) hour shall be paid at double time." Nothing like that comes from the master contract.

Three ports, three different answers on holidays and guarantees, and none of it comes from the master contract.

Ports that bargain separately

Not every ILA member works under the USMX master scale. Eastern Canada (Halifax, Saint John, Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton and the smaller ports) bargains its own agreements in Canadian dollars. Puerto Rico has its own agreement. The Great Lakes bargain separately too. If you're in one of those, the table above isn't your rate.

So what does this mean for your check

When your pay looks wrong, the question is usually which document governs that part of the day. The rate is the master contract. The guarantee, the start time, the meal hour and whether today is a paid holiday are your port's agreement. Payroll applies both, so checking your stub means checking both.

How DockBook handles it

DockBook prices each ILA shift with the master wage scale and your port's own rules: start times, overtime windows, meal hours, holidays, differentials and penalties, where your port's agreement is loaded. Where an agreement isn't public, like the Great Lakes and several Canadian single-employer deals, you enter your own rate. Logging shifts and seeing the pay estimate is free, and the app's "Your agreement" screen lays out your agreement's clauses in plain language with the citation for each, also free.