okebet Port Union Agrees to Suspend Strike
okebet Port Union Agrees to Suspend Strike
The International Longshoremen’s Association agreed on Thursday to suspend a strike that closed down major ports on the East and Gulf Coasts. The move followed an improved wage offer from port employers.okebet
The strike, which the dockworkers’ union began on Tuesday, threatened to weigh on the economy five weeks before national elections. Employers, represented by the United States Maritime Alliance, have offered to increase wages by 62 percent over the course of a new six-year contract, according to a person familiar with negotiations who did not want to be identified because the talks were continuing. That increase is lower than what the union had initially asked for, but much higher than the alliance’s earlier offer.
In a statement, the union said that it had reached “a tentative agreement on wages” and that its 45,000 members would go back to work, with the current contract extended until Jan. 15. The union said it was returning to the bargaining table “to negotiate all other outstanding issues.” The alliance issued a similar statement.
The agreement came after the White House pressed both sides to reach a deal to end the strike, the union’s first full-scale walkout since 1977. The wage increase is a clear victory for the I.L.A. and its combative president, Harold J. Daggett, a 78-year-old, third-generation dockworker who has led the union since 2011.
President Biden, when asked about the tentative deal on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews on Thursday evening, said: “We’ve been working hard on it. With the grace of God, it’s going to hold.”
ImagePresident Biden speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Thursday.Credit...Eric Lee/The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.
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