After the third day of the strike, thousands of port workers are heading back to work.
Tens of thousands of dock and port workers are heading back to work after their union and the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) reached a tentative agreement to end the labor dispute on Oct. 3.
The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), North America’s largest union of maritime workers, established a provisional wage deal with the USMX.
The breakthrough came after port employers reportedly offered a 62 percent wage increase over six years. The agreement also extends their master contract to add more time to iron out details over a new contract.
“The International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd. have reached a tentative agreement on wages and have agreed to extend the Master Contract until January 15, 2025 to return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues,” ILA and USMX officials said in a joint statement.
All current job action will stop immediately, and as many as 50,000 maritime workers will return to work on Oct. 4.
For the first time in nearly 50 years, the United States witnessed the largest shutdown of Atlantic and Gulf coast ports.
At midnight on Oct. 1, tens of thousands of dock and port workers from Maine to Texas went on strike. The ILA had rejected the offer from USMX of a nearly 50 percent wage increase, improved retirement benefits, and enhanced automation and semi-automation protections.
Work stoppages were estimated to affect billions in daily trade volumes. ILA President Harold Daggett earlier said the union was “prepared to fight as long as necessary”
Economists projected that a week- or month-long disruption could have harmed the economy and potentially rekindled inflationary pressures.
According to The Conference Board, a one-week port strike could have cost the economy $3.78 billion, or $540 million per day.
Grace Zwemmer, associate U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, estimated that the strike would trim gross domestic product growth by as much as 0.13 percent, or $7.5 billion, for each week.
By Andrew Moran
