At a time when retailers are gearing up for the holiday season, a port strike at the United States’ East and Gulf Coast ports interrupted cargo flow last week. After only three days, the strike came to an end, with likely only limited damage to America’s economy, according to the Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) represents 45,000 dock workers at three dozen U.S. ports from Maine to Texas and handles almost half of the nation’s ocean trade. ILA stated in early September that its members were prepared to hit the streets if they did not have a new contract with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) employer group in place when the current six-year agreement expired on September 30.
With the contract coming to an end, dockworkers from Maine to Texas began walking picket lines early Tuesday last week in a strike over wages and automation, according to AP News. The strike came to a rapid halt on Friday, the two sides coming to an agreement.
The New Contract
As stated in CNN, the maritime alliance, which operates under the acronym USMX, agreed to raises of $4 an hour for the union members on top of the current base pay of $39 an hour, an immediate raise of just more than 10%. Then union members will get additional $4-per-hour raises every year during the life of the six-year tentative deal. That will raise pay by a total of $24 an hour during the life of the contract, or by 62% in total.
Despite the brief shut downs, imports at the nation’s major container ports should continue at elevated levels this month.
“It was a huge relief for retailers, their customers and the nation’s economy that the strike was short lived,” NRF vice president for supply chain and customs policy Jonathan Gold said in a news release. “It will take the affected ports a couple of weeks to recover, but we can rest assured that all ports across the country will be working hard to meet demand, and no impact on the holiday shopping season is expected.”
“The port strike wasn’t without impacts – retailers who brought in cargo early or shifted delivery to the West Coast face added warehousing and transportation costs,” he continued. “But the priority now is for both parties to negotiate in good faith and reach a long-term contract before the short-term extension ends in mid-January. We don’t want to face a disruption like this all over again.”
