The dockworkers’ strike at U.S. ports ranging from Maine to Texas has been suspended for the time being while unions and port officials negotiate wages.
The strike, which began at midnight on October 1, as the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) was pushing for substantial wage increases and a complete prohibition on the automation of cranes, gates, and container-moving trucks used in loading and unloading cargo at 36 major U.S. ports.
Those ports are being represented by the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX).
The strike has now been suspended pending further talks between both sides.
A person briefed on the agreement said the ports raised their wage offer from about 50% over six years to 62%. The person didn’t want to be identified because the agreement is tentative. Any wage increase would have to be approved by union members as part of the ratification of a final contract.
The union went on strike early Tuesday after its contract expired in a dispute over pay and the automation of tasks at 36 ports stretching from Maine to Texas. The strike came at the peak of the holiday shopping season at the ports, which handle about half the cargo from ships coming into and out of the United States.
The strike posed a threat to the U.S. economy, risking inflation and shortages as goods would have been prevented from being unloaded into the U.S. at port and shipped into the interior of the country.
Workers are currently still covered under the old agreement between the ports and the unions, which technically expired on September 30. However, the tentative agreement between the two sides includes an understood extension until January 15.
