US dockworkers end strike after agreeing six-year pay deal

US dockers have agreed to return to work after a three-day strike that crippled shipping along the east and Gulf coasts.
Members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) union walked out on October 1, halting container traffic from Maine to Texas. It is the first walkout at these ports since 1977 and JP Morgan analysts estimated the cost to the economy at up to $5 billion per day.
In all, 36 ports were hit, including New York, Baltimore and Houston, and 45,000 workers were involved.
The union has reached a tentative agreement with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) on wages, for a pay rise of 62 per cent over six years. Dockworkers have suspended their walkout until January. Workers said they would return to the bargaining table to negotiate “all other outstanding issues”, such as automation, which they warn will lead to job losses.
The USMX group of employers had previously offered pay rises close to 50 per cent.
Upon hearing that the strike had ended, President Biden — who has sided with the dockers and called on the shipping industry to share its bumper profits from recent years — said: “By the grace of God and goodwill of neighbours, it’s going to hold.
“Today’s tentative agreement on a record wage and an extension of the collective bargaining process represents critical progress towards a strong contract. “I want to thank the union workers, the carriers, and the port operators for acting patriotically to reopen our ports and ensure the availability of critical supplies for Hurricane Helene recovery and rebuilding.”
Kamala Harris, the vice-president, also praised the agreement and echoed Biden’s rhetoric about the power of collective bargaining. She added that “dockworkers deserve a fair share for their hard work getting essential goods out to communities across America”.
Negotiations between workers and the USMX broke down in June after the union accused the alliance of violating contracts by introducing automation at some ports.
Harold Daggett, president of the ILA, wants cargo shippers to stop projects that threaten employment and says shipping lines such as Maersk had refused to heed the demand. On the first day of the strike he said: “We’re going to show these greedy bastards you can’t survive without us.”
The ILA demanded significant wage increases in line with the profits the industry has made in recent years and both sides accused the other of refusing to bargain.
Southern US states have been struggling for supplies following Hurricane Helene and the strike left at least 45 container vessels waiting to unload. The White House pressed shipping line bosses to settle a deal following the deadly storm. By midday the shipping companies had agreed to make an improved pay offer.
Reports detailed disruption to about 60 per cent of America’s container trade — worth billions of dollars of consumer goods during peak shipping season. There were also fears it could affect seafood shipments from Norway, Iceland and the Faroe Islands.
⬤ Members of the ILA will see their wages climb 62 per cent over the next six years. A large number already earn six-figure sums. More than half of the 3,726 dockworkers at New York-New Jersey port were earn more than $150,000 a year, while 665 were paid more than $250,000. Daggett earned more than $900,000 last year. According to reports in The New York Times in 2017, he drove a Bentley and owned a 76ft yacht.