Dockworkers' union reaches tentative agreement, will suspend port strike until January

Striking U.S. dockworkers will return to work Friday after reaching a tentative agreement with employers on an improved wage offer.

The conditional offer was for a 62% wage increase, FOX Business has learned. 

The offer is on the table for the next 90 days. If no deal is reached within that timeframe, the proposed wage hike will be pulled from the table. 

The International Longshoremen’s Association, which represents 45,000 striking U.S. workers, said the union and USMX 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.” 

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“Effective immediately, all current job actions will cease and all work covered by the Master Contract will resume,” the union said in a statement. 

Dockworkers at dozens of ports in the U.S. went on strike Tuesday for the first time in nearly 50 years over better wages and the use of automation.

The U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents the port employees, had previously raised its offer to a 50% increase in wages over the next six years.

Despite mounting pressure, President Biden said over the weekend he would not intervene, saying he doesn’t “believe in Taft-Hartley,” a reference to 1947 legislation that curtailed unions. 

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The strike raised fears of disruptions in the supply chain. An analysis by JPMorgan estimated the daily cost of a port strike by East and Gulf Coast port workers would cost the U.S. economy between $3.8 billion and $4.5 billion per day as operations slow. 

FOX Business’ Breck Dumas contributed to this report.