The longshoremen’s strike appears to have ended with a tentative agreement on wages. This afternoon, the ILA and the USMX released a joint statement:

The International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd. have reached a tentative agreement on wages and have agreed to extend the Master Contract until January 15, 2025 to return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues. Effective immediately, all current job actions will cease and all work covered by the Master Contract will resume.

Originally, the ILA had demanded a 77% wage increase over the 6-year contract term covering 36 ports on the US East and Gulf coasts but ultimately agreed to a 62% wage increase, representing a $24 an-hour bump in the top pay rate over the contract term.

The strike was the first large ILA labor action in close to 50 years. Negotiations between the ILA and the USMX had broken down last June and there were justifiable concerns that the current strike could do serious damage to the US and world economies if it dragged on for an extended period.

The last major strike in 1977 lasted for 44 days.  Fortunately, the current strike lasted only 3 days, with an additional 90 days to finalize the outstanding issues related to employee retirement plans, health care, and automation.