- Tentative deal includes a 62% wage hike over six years-source
- Strike affected 36 ports, causing backlog of anchored ships
- Biden administration sided with union, resisted calls to halt strike
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON/LOS ANGELES − A union representing U.S. dock workers and port operators have reached a tentative deal on wages that will end a three-day strike that has shut down shipping on the East Coast and Gulf Coast, the International Longshoremen’s Association union and the United States Maritime Alliance said.
The agreement extends the master contract between the union and port operators until Jan. 15, 2025, allowing negotiations to continue on other aspects of the contract. A joint statement late Thursday did not specify what wages were agreed upon or the other terms that required negotiation.
“Effective immediately, all current job actions will cease and all work covered by the Master Contract will resume,” the statement said.
The tentative agreement is for a wage increase of about 62% over six years, The Bergen Record, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK, reported.
The union had been seeking a 77% raise, while the employer group had raised its offer to a nearly 50%.
The deal ends the biggest work stoppage of its kind in nearly half a century, which blocked unloading of container ships from Maine to Texas and threatened shortages of everything from bananas to auto parts and triggered a backlog of anchored ships outside major ports.
