Los stabilizers from the east coast of USA and the Gulf of Mexico, represented by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), have reached a preliminary agreement with the USMX shipping association that terminates his strike.
The ILA has reported in a statement that they have reached “a agreement tentative on wages” and it has been agreed to “extend the Master Contract until January 15, 2025.”
“Effective immediately, all current labor actions will cease and all work covered by the Master Contract will resume,” the union added.
According to the newspaper The New York Times, that the workers have achieved a salary increase of 62%, below the 77% increase they demanded for the next six years, but higher than the 50% that the organization had offered them at first.
US President Joe Bidenhas celebrated and has pointed out that collective bargaining “works”. “I want to thank union workers, shippers and port operators for acting patriotically to reopen our ports and ensure the availability of critical supplies for the recovery and reconstruction of Hurricane Helene,” he said in a statement released by the White House.
Collective bargaining “is essential to building a stronger economy from the center out and from the bottom up,” the Democratic president has highlighted.
Around 45,000 dockers members of the ILA union went on strike on Tuesday to force the bosses to reach an agreement.
A stoppage that affected 36 strategic terminals
For the first time since 1977, the United States faced a shutdown of its ports that affected 36 strategic terminals such as Elizabeth/Newark, Baltimore, Savannah, Houston, New Orleans and Miami, where between 43 and 49% of maritime trade passes of the country.
The financial company JP Morgan had estimated that Each day of strike could generate losses of about $5 billion. The closure of the port of Houston alone, the most important in the Gulf of Mexico, could cause daily losses of 100 million in imports and exports, according to data from the Miter Corporation, a center based in Virginia.
The US dockworkers’ strike paralyzes the country’s main ports
The US Government had ruled out that the stoppage would have an immediate effect on the economy or prices, but the consumer goods, automotive, energy and agricultural products sectors could have been the most affected if it was prolonged.
US President Joe Bidenhad said that he did not intend to use the provisions of the Taft-Hartley law, which would allow him to force a return to work for 80 days in national security interests, but this week He positioned himself in favor of the dockers and urged the employers to improve their conditions.
