dockworkers’ strike over (for now)—huge wage increases agreed to—in six-year deal

By Grand Rapids Anonymous
thursday, october 3, 2024 at 8:46:00 p.m. edt

“(zh) if you just bought 10 years worth of toilet paper, you may want to check if you still have the receipt.

“late on thursday, 45,000 striking dockworkers at US east and Gulf coast ports agreed to return to work after port operators sweetened their contract offer, ending a three-day strike that threatened to disrupt the American economy.

“the international longshoremen’s association and port operators, in a joint statement, said they had reached a tentative agreement on wages and union members would return to work. they said the agreement would extend the prior contract, which expired at the start of this week, through jan. 15, 2025 while the two sides negotiate on other issues, including automation on the docks.

“the breakthrough came after port employers offered a 62% increase in wages over six years, the wsj reported citing people familiar with the matter. the new offer, up from an earlier proposed raise of 50%, came after the white house privately and publicly pressed the large shipping lines and cargo terminal operators who employ the longshore workers [sic; the longshoremen] to make a new offer to the union.

“the agreement ends a strike that had closed container ports from maine to texas and threatened to disrupt everything from the supply of bananas in supermarkets to the flow of cars through America’s factories, and cost the U.S. economy billions each day in lost commerce.

“the latest offer would raise the base hourly rate for ila port workers to $63 from $39 over six years. one of the people said the offer is being made on the condition that dockworkers go back to work and agree to efficiency gains [Read: job losses through automation and ai].

“the offer is less than the union demand for an increase of 77% over the term of the contract but a far larger increase than most major labor contracts, including a contract reached last year covering the separate union representing west coast longshore workers [sic; longshoremen]. many U.S. dockworkers currently earn more than a $100,000 a year, with baseline hourly wages boosted by work rules and overtime requirements.

--GRA