IN DETROIT — The union for 45,000 dockworkers in East and Gulf coast U.S. ports reached a deal Thursday to end their three-day strike until January 15 so that they have time to talk about a new contract.
The International Longshoremen’s Association, the union, will start working again right away. The strike was put on hold for now after the union and the U.S. Maritime Alliance, which speaks for ports and shipping companies, came to a rough deal on wages, according to a statement from the union and the ports.
Someone who knew about the deal said that the ports raised their price offer from about 50% over six years to 62%. The person didn’t want to be named because the deal is still not final. As part of signing off on a final deal, union members would have to agree to any pay rise.
After its contract expired early Tuesday, the union went on strike over pay and the automation of jobs at 36 ports from Maine to Texas. During the strike, the ports were very busy with Christmas shopping. The ports handle about half of the cargo that ships bring into and out of the United States.
If the walkout went on for more than a few weeks, there might not be enough goods in stores. But most stores had already stocked up or shipped things early because they knew the dockworkers would be on strike.
“With the help of God and good neighbours, it will stick,” President Joe Biden told reporters Thursday night after the deal was made.
Later, Biden praised both sides for “acting patriotically to reopen our ports and make sure the availability of critical supplies for damage recovery and rebuilding from Hurricane Helene.”
“Critically important to building a stronger economy from the middle out and the bottom up,” Biden said.
Members of the union won’t have to vote on the temporary end of the strike, so big cranes can start loading and unloading shipping containers Thursday night. They will be covered by the old deal until January 15. The contract ended on September 30.
For six years, the union had been asking for a 77% rise and a ban on all automation at the ports, which they see as a threat to their work. Both sides have also had different ideas about how to handle pension payments and the royalties that are paid on containers that workers move.
Labour and work law professor Thomas Kohler said that the agreement to end the strike shows that both sides are getting close to a final deal.
“I’m sure they wouldn’t have stopped the strike if they weren’t going anywhere,” he said. “They get paid.” They’ll work out the language about technology. I think what this really means is that it gives both sides time to sit down and agree on the language they can both live with.
For every day that a port strike lasts, it takes four to six days to get back to normal. They did say, though, that a short strike of a few days probably wouldn’t hurt the supply system too much.
Kohler said that the sudden end of the strike could throw trains off. This is because cars, engines, and crews may not be in the right place. But railroads are going to fix that right away.
As the strike was about to start, the Maritime Alliance said that both sides had changed their original wage offers. This was seen as a first sign of progress.
The settlement moves the strike and any possible shortages past the November election for president. This takes away a possible liability for the Democratic candidate for vice president, Kamala Harris. The Biden-Harris government has said it is the most union-friendly in U.S. history, so this is also a big plus. Prices could have gone up and inflation started up again because of shortages.
A person who was briefed on the day’s events but asked not to be named because the talks were secret said that the deal on Thursday came after administration officials met with foreign-owned shipping companies on Zoom before dawn. The White House wanted to put more pressure on them to settle by stressing that they needed to reopen the ports to help the recovery from Hurricane Helene, the person said.
Asst. Labour Secretary Julie Su told them that if the carriers offered a higher wage, she could get the union to the table to negotiate a longer contract. The carriers were told by Chief of Staff Jeff Zients that they had to make an offer by the end of the day so that a strike by people wouldn’t make a natural disaster worse, the person said.
The deal was made when the members of the Maritime Alliance agreed to a big rise around noon, according to the person.
