West Coast port employers and the union representing their longshore workers on Tuesday announced they had reached a tentative deal on health benefits as part of ongoing contract talks.

The deal, which covers the “maintenance of health benefits,” is subject to “agreement on the other issues in the negotiations,” the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association said in a joint press release. And while the two parties said they would not discuss the terms of the agreement, they said the deal represented an “important part of the contract being negotiated.”

The ILWU and the Pacific Maritime Association have been negotiating a contract that covers more than 22,000 longshore workers at 29 West Coast port since May 10. The healthcare deal is the first official update indicating progress in the talks since the contract expired on July 1.