A historic United States port strike has been suspended and a tentative agreement was reached “on wages,” according to the International Longshoremen’s Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance.
“Effective immediately, all current job actions will cease and all work covered by the Master Contract will resume,” the ILA and USMX said in a joint statement Thursday evening.
The tentative agreement would increase workers’ wages by 62% over the life of the 6-year contract, sources familiar confirm to ABC News.
This represents a significant increase from the shipping industry group’s offer of a 50% wage increase earlier this week. The union had been pushing for a 77% pay hike over six years.
The tentative agreement would bring the hourly wage for a top dockworker to $63 per hour at the end of the new contract, up from $39 per hour under the expired contract.
Congrats-ish. That’s not exactly a huge pay rise.
They asked for 77% pay raises over 6 years and negotiated for 62%. This is a decent deal. Any victory for labor is a victory for all our us. Sure there is still a lot of work to be done, but this is a win.
Hence the “ish.” It’s a victory. It could be a better one. That’s a 15% difference from what they wanted.
Not necessarily. Prudent to start with an offer higher than your actual goal so you have room to bargain downward.