A tentative agreement has been reached, ending a three-day-long port strike that was beginning to affect the nation’s supply chain.
The International Longshoremen’s Association announced the agreement with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) on the evening of Thursday, Oct. 3.
“(We) have reached a tentative agreement on wages and have agreed to extend the master contract until Jan. 15, 2025, to return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues. Effective immediately, all current job actions will cease, and all work covered by the master contract will resume.”
According to Reuters, the preliminary agreement calls for a 62% wage increase. The workers had been asking for a 77% boost.
The dockworkers began striking at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 1. Tens of thousands of workers asked for higher wages and more protections in contract negotiations with the USMX, which represents employers of the longshoremen industry on the East Coast and the Gulf Coast.
Early Thursday, Oct. 3, there were reports that the strike had caused dozens of container ships to be stuck outside major U.S. ports. The Hill reported that the strike could cost the economy as much as $5 billion per day. Other media outlets predicted that the disruption would lead to major supply chain issues and would affect the prices of everything from fresh fruit to automobiles. The fact that the strike directly followed the Hurricane Helene disaster created additional supply chain problems.
President Joe Biden, who could have used the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act to pause the strike for 80 days, hinted to reporters early Thursday that progress was being made.
“I want to thank the union workers, the carriers and the port operators for acting patriotically to reopen our ports and ensure the availability of critical supplies for Hurricane Helene recovery and rebuilding,” Biden said in a statement after the agreement was reached. “Collective bargaining works, and it is critical to building a stronger economy from the middle out and the bottom up.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg reiterated the importance of the agreement, considering the needs of those hit by Hurricane Helene.
“I want to thank everyone involved for putting the country first, finding a path forward to reopen ports and ensuring that essential goods – including those bound for areas hard hit by Hurricane Helene – will be moving again,” Buttigieg said. LL
Land Line Associate Editor Tyson Fisher contributed to this report.
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