
Paul Berger and Annie Linskey of The Wall Street Journal report that companies sweeten contract offer to a 62% wage increase to reopen ports from Maine to Texas. They write:
U.S. ports reopened after dockworkers agreed to return to work, ending a three-day strike that threatened to disrupt the American economy just weeks ahead of the presidential election.
The breakthrough Thursday came after port employers offered a 62% increase in wages over six years, according to people familiar with the matter.
The agreement ends a strike that had closed container ports from Maine to Texas and threatened to disrupt everything from the supply of bananas in supermarkets to the flow of cars through America’s factories. […]
The International Longshoremen’s Association and port operators, in a joint statement, said the tentative agreement would extend the prior contract, which expired at the start of this week, through Jan. 15, 2025, while the two sides negotiate on other issues, including automation on the docks. […]
Many manufacturers and big retailers, with their busy fall shopping season just starting to kick in, said they could withstand a short strike because they brought in products earlier than usual this year and diverted other cargoes to West Coast ports. But executives said a walkout lasting a week or longer would push up shipping costs and might trigger product shortages.
Read more here.