U.S. Dockworkers End Strike Over Automation in Temporary Agreement

And just like that, the strike was over. At least for now.

The 47,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), who have been on strike since Tuesday, will reportedly go back to work Friday after an interim deal was reached, according to a new report from CNN. The news outlet cites two unnamed sources who stressed that “there is not yet a final agreement on the complete contract,” but that there’s a “tentative deal” on wages.

The strike, which impacted 36 ports on the East Coast and Gulf Coast, was instigated over terms involving both pay and the role of automation in international shipping. And there were major concerns that a prolonged strike could impact the availability of consumer goods in the U.S. Workers have been walking picket lines holding signs that read “Automation threatens our future: Stand with the ILA” and “Machines don’t feed families: Support the ILA.”

The tentative deal will need to be ratified by the union members and the deal, also reported by the Associated Press, only suspends the strike until January 15. The union reached the temporary agreement with the United States Maritime Alliance, which represents the shipping companies, terminal operators, and the port authorities.

The agreement will allow people to get back to work while a longer six-year contract is negotiated and includes a temporary wage hike of 62%, according to Reuters. The union had asked for a 77% increase and the Maritime Alliance offered a 50% increase.

Business owners have been upset with the White House and have called for President Joe Biden to invoke the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, which can be used by presidents to order workers back to work. But Biden declined to use that power, instead urging both sides to get together in the interest of helping keep goods flowing after the devastation of Hurricane Helene.

“This natural disaster is incredibly consequential,” Biden said Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. “The last thing we need on top of that is a man-made disaster—what’s going on at the ports.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis invoked the hurricane relief efforts when he threatened to break the strike on Thursday, calling the workers’ actions “unacceptable.”

“At my direction, the Florida National Guard and the Florida State Guard will be deployed to critical ports affected to maintain order, and if possible, resume operations that would otherwise be shut down during this interruption,” DeSantis said, according to NBC6 in South Florida.

The strike has been contentious, to say the least. ILA president Harold J. Daggett complained Wednesday that he had been subjected to death threats and was upset that some news outlets were reporting personal details about his life.

“The New York Post newspaper this week published aerial photographs of his New Jersey home, including posting his address in an article,” the union said in a press release. “They printed other details of his personal life, full of false accusations against him, with the sole intent on destroying his character and disparaging his 68-year ILA career, with the intention of weakening his ability to negotiate a new Master Contract for ILA members.”