New York (CNN) – Striking members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) will return to work at ports on Friday, the union announced Thursday night, as the union and the management group representing the Shipping lines, terminal operators and port authorities have reached a tentative agreement on wages.
The union agreed to extend the contract it had with the United States Maritime Alliance, the management group known as USMX that represents shipping lines, terminal operators and port authorities. That agreement, which had expired at the end of Monday, will now be extended through Jan. 15 and allow union members to return to work while the final details are finalized into a full agreement and ratified by the rank and file.
The union’s 50,000 members working at ports from Maine to Texas have been on strike since early Tuesday, stopping the flow of most containerized imports into the United States, along with many exports, disrupting sales for American companies. abroad.
A tentative agreement would still need to be ratified by the ILA’s rank-and-file members before it comes into force. But with ships stranded at sea unable to enter U.S. ports to unload and load goods, the union has agreed to have workers return to work on Friday.
However, if members vote against the agreement, the strike could begin again. And such rejection of a tentative labor agreement is not unheard of.
Last month, the International Association of Machinists (IAM) and aircraft manufacturer Boeing reached a tentative agreement that union leaders recommended their 33,000 members accept and even described as the best agreement they had negotiated with the company. But union members voted almost unanimously to reject it and have remained on strike since September 13.
The port strike was still in its early days, but it would have had wide ramifications for the US economy the longer it continued.
Business groups have been calling on the Biden administration to order strikers back to work. The shutdown threatened the supply of everything from bananas to liquor to European luxury cars, all with the busy Christmas shopping season less than two months away. And those shortages could have resulted in upward pressure on prices.
But President Joe Biden had refused to use his powers under the Taft-Hartley Act to block or end the strike, saying he would not interfere with the collective bargaining process. Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg had called on the USMX to negotiate an agreement with the ILA that would equitably share record profits with members.
