The US Port strike, on the East and Gulf Coasts, is thankfully over for now, and workers are due to return to work today (Friday 4th October).
The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) confirmed that it has reached a tentative agreement on wages and will go back to work until 15 January, before which they hope to have negotiated “all other outstanding issues”.
Under this new agreement, wages will go up by 62% during the next six years. The parties seem to have reached a sensible compromise after the union had been pushing for a 77% increase, with the USMX previously offering around 50%.
Over 40,000 union members walked out and ports stopped operations between Maine in the Northeast and Texas in the South, resulting in the biggest US dockworker strike since 1977.
President Joe Biden commented “I congratulate the dockworkers from the ILA, who deserve a strong contract after sacrificing so much to keep our ports open during the pandemic,” and “I applaud the port operators and carriers for working hard and putting a strong offer on the table.”
It’s not currently obvious whether all ports will be operational today or over the weekend, but the agreement is brilliant news for the industry. Inevitably, there is likely to be congestion and scheduling issues over the coming weeks before things settle back down.
