https://abcnews.go.com/US/dockworkers-strike-suspended-sources/story?id=114445386

“Dockworkers Strike Suspended”

According to the article, a historic United States port strike has been suspended and a tentative agreement was reached on wages, according to the International Longshoremen’s Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance.

“Effective immediately, all current job actions will cease, and all work covered by the Master Contract will resume,” the ILA and USMX said in a recent joint statement.

Terms of Tentative Agreement

The tentative agreement would increase workers’ wages by 62 percent over the life of the 6-year contract.

This represents a significant increase from the shipping industry group’s offer of a 50 percent wage increase earlier this week. The union had been pushing for a 77 percent pay hike over six years.

The tentative agreement would bring the hourly wage for a top dockworker to $63 per hour at the end of the new contract, up from $39 per hour under the expired contract.

Pressure from Biden Administration

The Maritime Alliance increased its offer amid public pressure from the Biden administration to put forward a contract offering higher wages.

The tentative agreement does not resolve differences between the union and shipping companies over the use of automated machinery, sources said. That will be a key focus of negotiations between both sides from now until January 15.

“I want to applaud the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance for coming together to reopen the East Coast and Gulf ports. Today’s tentative agreement on a record wage and an extension of the collective bargaining process represents critical progress towards a strong contract,” President Joe Biden said on the agreement.

“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. Collective bargaining works, and it is critical to building a stronger economy from the middle out and the bottom up,” he continued.

The ILA’s Actions

Tens of thousands of U.S. dockworkers had walked off the job recently, clogging dozens of ports along the East and Gulf coasts.

ILA members started to set up picket lines at shipping ports up and down the Atlantic and Gulf coasts in the union's first coastwide strike in nearly 50 years.

The ILA, the union representing 50,000 East Coast and Gulf Coast dockworkers under the contract at issue, was seeking higher wages and a ban on the use of some automated equipment.

“ILA longshore workers deserve to be compensated for the important work they do keeping American commerce moving and growing,” the ILA told the media. “Meanwhile, ILA dedicated longshore workers continue to be crippled by inflation due to USMX's unfair wage packages.”

Pressure on the USMX

Following the strike, President Joe Biden called for a fair offer from the USMX, an organization bargaining on behalf of the dockworkers’ employers. In a recent statement, Biden emphasized the strong profits enjoyed by shipping firms in recent years, as well as the sacrifices made by dockworkers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amid the strike, USMX said it remained “committed to bargaining in good faith to address the ILA’s demands and USMX’s concerns."

A prolonged work stoppage of several weeks or months could have rekindled inflation for some goods and triggered layoffs at manufacturers as raw materials dried up, experts said.

Prior Work Stoppages

The last time East Coast and Gulf Coast workers went on strike, in 1977, the work stoppage lasted seven weeks.

In 2002, a strike among workers at West Coast ports lasted 11 days before then-President George W. Bush invoked the Taft-Hartley Act and ended the standoff.

Discussion Questions

1. What are your thoughts regarding the terms of the tentative agreement between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance outlined in the article? Are these terms fair to both sides? Why or why not?

These are opinion questions, so student responses may vary. In your author’s opinion, the tentative agreement between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance is more than fair to workers. As the article indicates, the tentative agreement would increase workers’ wages by 62 percent over the life of the six-year contract, bringing the hourly wage for a top dockworker to $63 per hour at the end of the new contract, up from $39 per hour under the expired contract.

2. As indicated in the article, the Maritime Alliance increased its offer amid public pressure from the Biden administration to put forward a contract offering higher wages. In your reasoned opinion, should the U.S. president have any say in addressing a union work stoppage? Why or why not?

This is an opinion question, so student responses may vary. In your author’s opinion, both the industry and the circumstances surrounding the labor-management dispute in this case merit some intervention by the federal government. In fact, President Biden merely used the “bully pulpit” (defined as “a public office or position of authority that provides its occupant with an outstanding opportunity to speak out on any issue) to encourage the parties to resolve their dispute in an industry that is crucial to U.S. international trade (both imports and exports).

3. As indicated in the article, the tentative agreement does not resolve differences between the union and shipping companies over the use of automated machinery, and that will be a key focus of negotiations between both sides from now until January 15. Does it surprise you that the use of automated machinery would be a contentious issue between labor and management? Why or why not?

Although this may appear on first glance as a relatively inconsequential issue (after all, unions have traditionally emphasized pay and benefits as the most important collective bargaining issues), the use of automated machinery is actually a key issue that relates to job security. After all, automated machinery could render obsolete thousands of dockworker jobs. In your author’s opinion, the union will be hard-pressed to favorably resolve this issue, as the advancement of technology, like time, marches on.