A major strike that had shutdown ports along the U.S. East Coast has ended with a deal that improves wages and extends the contract of 45,000 dockworkers through January 15, 2025.
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The agreement ends a 48-hour work stoppage that had shutdown 14 major ports stretching from Maine to the Gulf of Mexico and stranded billions of dollars worth of trade, impacting everything from fresh fruit to automobiles.
In a news release, the International Longshoremen’s Association that represents the dockworkers and the United States Maritime Alliance that represents employers said they reached a tentative agreement that bolsters wages and extends a current contract until early next year, giving both sides time to return to the bargaining table and hammer out a new, multiyear collective agreement.
Getting the Economy Moving Again
The strike was the first major shutdown of ports along the U.S. East Coast since 1977 and was costing the U.S. economy an estimated $5 billion a day. Half the container shipments in America had been shutdown by the dockworkers strike. Billions of dollars worth of goods are currently anchored off the U.S. coast because ships are unable to dock in ports.
Terms of the pay raise were not disclosed. However, union representatives said previously that they were demanding an increase of $5 per hour for each year of a new six-year contract. The Maritime Alliance reportedly offered a 50% pay raise over six years, but that offer was rejected by the union as insufficient.
In recent days, companies ranging from discount retailer Walmart (WMT) to automaker General Motors (GM) had called for an end to the strike.
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