East coast dockworkers return to work after strike

A union representing about 45,000 dockworkers on Thursday said it agreed to resume work after a three-day strike affecting dozens of ports from Maine to Texas. The International Longshoremen’s Association, the union representing the dockworkers, announced an agreement suspending the strike until at least Jan. 15. In a joint statement with the United States Maritime Alliance, the industry group that represents the port operators, the union said it had reached a tentative agreement on wages. The two sides agreed to negotiate the other outstanding issues in January.

What were the terms of the wage agreement? The joint statement did not provide additional information. The Associated Press, citing an anonymous source who was briefed on the agreement, reported that the ports increased their wage raise offer—from 50 to 62 percent over a six-year period. The union had been demanding a 77 percent pay raise over six years, according to previous reports.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Monday sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking him to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act to prevent a strike. Biden said he would not intervene in the dispute.

How would an ongoing strike have affected the economy? Businesses that rely on imports for both finished goods and raw materials could have experienced shortages as shipments waited at the docks. The strike was unlikely to greatly hurt the $30 trillion U.S. economy unless it continued without intervention for a long period of time, J.P. Morgan analysts wrote in a blog post earlier this week. They estimated the strike would reduce U.S. economic activity by a several billion dollars per week while it continued.

Dig deeper: Read Lauren Canterberry’s initial report about the strike.