A major strike at US East and Gulf Coast ports is now over, just three days after 40,000 union members walked out on Tuesday.
The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) eventually came to an agreement and workers have been asked to return to work on Friday (October 4th).
Wages, bonuses, pensions and port automation had been at the centre of the bitter dispute, with the two parties finally agreeing a 62% wage increase for the duration of the 6 year contracts.
The ILA union has agreed to return to work until January 15th, which provides a realistic timeframe for the other outstanding issues to be agreed. Should the two parties not reach full agreement by this date, then further strike action may follow.
36 ports have been impacted by the three-day strike, making it the biggest US dockworker strike for almost 50 years, and vessels had been starting to form queues outside of major ports.
While the strike is over for now, which is great news for everybody, we are still expecting to see some port congestion in the coming days and maybe weeks. It is also likely that it will be a few weeks before carriers are able to get their vessels back to their usual schedules.
