2024-10-04 00:10:42
According to the Wall Street Journal, employers have proposed a 62% wage increase over six years. Discussions are due to resume in January.
American dockers will return to work after three days of strike, the union and employers announced Thursday, October 3 in a joint statement, while the blockade of ports in the United States threatened to cause shortages and price increases one month from now. election. The longshoremen’s union (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents their employers, “have reached an agreement in principle on salaries and have agreed to extend the framework contract until January 15, 2025 in order to return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues”according to a joint press release. So, “from now on, all ongoing actions will cease and all positions covered by the framework contract will resume”it is specified.
The two parties will therefore have to meet again to discuss by January. The press release does not provide details on the terms of the salary agreement. But, according to the Wall Street Journal which cites people familiar with the matter, employers proposed a 62% wage increase over six years, which made this agreement possible. American President Joe Biden welcomed this agreement which will make it possible to “reopen East Coast and Gulf ports”and who “represents crucial progress towards a solid contract”. “I want to thank the union workers, transporters and port operators who are acting with patriotism to reopen our ports and ensure the availability of essential supplies for recovery and reconstruction following Hurricane Helene”he added.
Joe Biden refused to intervene, and the White House spokesperson judged that“It is time for the USMX to negotiate a fair agreement with dockworkers that reflects their important contribution to our economic recovery”. Former President Donald Trump, who is seeking a new term, estimated in Milwaukee that Joe Biden “should have worked out an agreement between them” and noted that the dockers represented «the force lives» of the country.
Carriers have seen their results jump 350% in ten years
Some 45,000 members of the dockers’ union (ILA) have been on strike since Tuesday in 36 ports of the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) on the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico, for lack of agreement on a new social agreement of six years. The agreement actually only concerns 25,000 union members working in the container and vehicle import/export terminals of 14 major ports (including Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Savannah, Miami, Tampa, Houston).
Transport Minister Pete Buttigieg urged the two parties on Wednesday to reach an agreement and reopen the ports, saying their positions were not “not so economically distant”and emphasizing that there was much to do after the devastating passage of Hurricane Helene in the south of the country. He also reported that maritime carriers saw their results jump by around 350% in ten years while dockworkers’ salaries increased by only 15% over the same period.
Discussions, which began in May, were suspended for several weeks then reactivated a few hours before the previous contract expired Monday evening. The Alliance had raised its offer, proposing in particular a salary increase of 50% over the duration of the agreement, but which had been rejected by the union. He initially demanded 77%, according to American media, and notably calls for more protections against job losses linked to automation.
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