Days after dockworkers across the East and Gulf Coast launched their largest strike in decades, a tentative agreement has put the strike on hold.  With urging from the Biden administration to come to terms quickly, the workers and the docks have reached a tentative compromise on wages, while extending negotiations on the issue of automation.

Dockworkers return to work with agreement on wages

In a joint statement released Thursday night by the International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, the two organizations announced that they “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.” With this new agreement, the statement announced that strike activities will stop and workers will return to work.

ABC News reported that the dockworkers’ association and the dock alliance agreed to a 62% wage increase for dockworkers over the six years of the new contract. This represents a compromise between the union’s initial demand of a 77% wage increase over that time period and the dock alliance’s initial offer of a 50% increase. Substantively, the agreement would raise the higher end of dockworkers’ hourly wages from $39 to $63 over the life of the new contract. The agreement leaves open the question of whether or not the new agreement would include stronger language against automation, which had been the other main point of disagreement between the industry alliance and the workers’ union.

Biden congratulates both sides as Buttigieg is credited for negotiation role

The quick end of the strike is important for containing the supply chain disruptions and overall economic impact of the labor stoppage, which could have significantly impacted the economy if it had continued. The potential economic downturn could have also reflected negatively on the Biden administration as Vice President Kamala Harris enters the final month of her presidential campaign. President Joe Biden released a statement to “congratulate the dockworkers from the ILA, who deserve a strong contract after sacrificing so much to keep our ports open during the pandemic” and he also took time to “applaud the port operators and carriers who are members of the US Maritime Alliance for working hard and putting a strong offer on the table.”

The Biden administration is being credited for working behind the scenes to end the strike. Several sources are reporting that Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg was the point person from the Biden administration talking to both the docks and the workers to hash out an agreement. “Both sides named Pete Buttigieg as the man who got it done,” Barry Markson, a radio talk show host and legal analyst, wrote on X.

The end of the strike and the new agreement between the union and the docks represents a win for workers and consumers as well as a political victory for the White House. Ongoing negotiations will determine whether or not workers and employers will nail down a long-term settlement to address their major issues.

Biden administrationdockworkersPete Buttigieg