The union representing dock workers at ports from Maine to Texas and the shipping companies that rely on their services have agreed to resume contract talks next month.
Earlier this month, the International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd. reached a tentative agreement on wages and have agreed to extend the Master Contract until Jan. 15. and return to the bargaining table.
A statement Friday said the two sides will meet in New Jersey “where they will look to agree on terms for a new master contract proposal that can be presented to a full ILA Wage Scale Committee for approval, and later, to ILA Longshore workers for ratification.”
“The ILA and USMX welcome the opportunity to return to the bargaining table and get a new agreement in place as soon as possible,” they said in the statement.
Some 47,000 dock workers in East and Gulf Coast ports went on strike at midnight Oct. 1 and returned to work Oct. 3. It was the union’s first large scale work stoppage in 50 years.
The strike ended with members agreeing to a 62% wage increase over six years.
Even as brief as it was, the strike caused problems for the supply chain, including truckers. The American Trucking Associations criticized President Joe Biden for not invoking the Taft-Hartley Act, which would have invoked an 80-day cooling off period and avoided the strike.
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