Dockworkers on East and Gulf Coast to return to work after reaching agreement on wages

Thousands of dockworkers on the East Coast and Gulf Coast will return to work after reaching a tentative agreement on wages, ending one of the biggest work stoppages in decades.

In a joint statement, the United States Maritime Alliance, or USMX, and the International Longshoreman’s Association said the two sides have an agreement to extend their current labor contract through Jan. 15 and continue to negotiate.

‘The International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd. have reached a tentative agreement on wages,’ the union and the alliance said.

‘Effective immediately, all current job actions will cease and all work covered by the Master Contract will resume,’ the statement said.

The terms of the tentative wage agreement were not disclosed in the joint statement.

The International Longshoremen’s Association, known as the ILA, argued that big global cargo carriers have raked in huge profits since pandemic-era supply-chain snags drove up freight rates, and that workers haven’t sufficiently shared in those gains.

The United States Maritime Alliance, or USMX, represents major ocean freight and port operators. 

The union also sought limits on automation at ports. The joint statement only mentions wages.

The strike began at midnight Monday, going into Tuesday. The ILA strike that shut down ports is its first since 1977. That one lasted 44 days.

The work stoppage involved ports from Maine to Texas. The governors of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Maryland were among those calling for a swift resolution to the labor dispute.

President Joe Biden on Thursday praised both sides for finding a way to get a tentative deal done so that ports can reopen and talks can continue.

‘Today’s tentative agreement on a record wage and an extension of the collective bargaining process represents critical progress towards a strong contract,’ Biden said.

The tentative wage agreement and resumption of the contract appears to end fears of higher prices for consumers and supply-chain issues had the stoppage dragged on. It also temporarily quiets a contentious labor issue with around a month left to go in the U.S. presidential campaign.

Biden had publicly urged USMX to make what he called a fair offer, and he said the alliance represents a group of foreign-owned carriers.

“Now is not the time for ocean carriers to refuse to negotiate a fair wage for these essential workers while raking in record profits,” Biden said in a statement Tuesday.

On Wednesday, with no deal in place, Biden increased the pressure by having White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients convene a meeting with CEOs of foreign carriers for Thursday, said sources familiar with the thinking of Biden and the White House.

National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard was able to get global shippers to increase their offer, although still not quite enough, the sources said.

Zients, Brainard, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su had a 5:30 a.m. call on Thursday with the shippers on Thursday, who by midday had agreed to move forward with the wage increases to reopen ports, the sources said.

The union and USMX will still need to come to terms on the question of automation, which has emerged as a more existential issue. Ports around the world have embraced technology that can make shipping faster, cheaper and safer, with U.S. ports now regularly lagging behind international ports in efficiency.

A Government Accountability Office report from this year found that U.S. ports had embraced some automation, but that labor opposition as well as cost were hindering the adoption of automation technology.

As for any lingering effects from the brief work stoppage, the number of ships waiting to dock has already started to decline, and no major disruptions are expected to be felt by consumers. Everstream Analytics, a supply chain risk management company, told NBC News that it will take about three weeks to clear the backlog.