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2024-10-05 09:49:26
Thousands of dock workers returned to work Friday morning in the United States, a day after their unions and their employers reached an agreement in principle after just three days of strike, eliminating a threat to the American economy a month before the presidential elections. election.
At the Gulf of Mexico (South) Alabama port of Mobile, port operations resumed at 7:00 am (11:00 GMT), operator APM said.
On the East Coast, in Norfolk, the Port of Virginia plans to reopen on Saturday, with longer-than-usual opening hours “to allow operations to resume.”
35,000 containers waiting
In the gigantic port of New York-New Jersey – through which 20% of the containers arriving in the United States pass every year, behind Los Angeles-Long Beach (40%) in California – the Port Liberty terminal in Bayonne will not reopen until Monday .
Port Authority of New York-New Jersey Director Bethann Rooney expects a quick return to normalcy with a two-phase reopening: two terminals on Friday, the others on Monday.
On Friday morning, 24 ships, carrying 35,000 containers, were waiting offshore to unload their goods, he told a news conference.
First strike since 1977
This reopening of the ports located between Maine (northeast) and Texas (south), passing through Florida (southeast), is possible thanks to the agreement concluded between the longshoremen’s union (ILA) and United States Shipping Alliance (USMX), representing their employers.
“From now on all ongoing actions will cease and all positions covered by the framework contract will resume,” they announced on Thursday evening.
This was the ILA’s first strike since 1977 (44 days). Negotiations on the new six-year social agreement, which began in May, have been stalled for several weeks. They resumed a few hours before the previous agreement expired, on Monday at 11.59pm, without finishing in time to avoid a strike.
Only a part of the dock workers are affected
The work stoppage began immediately, affecting all thirty-six USMX-operated ports and their 45,000 ILA members.
But the social agreement concerns only 25,000 port workers who work in the import/export container and vehicle terminals of fourteen major ports (including Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Savannah, Miami, Tampa, Houston).
Discussions about wages and automation have stalled. In Thursday evening’s press release there is talk of “an agreement in principle on salaries”.
Granted a salary increase
“These are three of the most profitable days in the history of industrial relations with a union that has lost just three days’ wages and achieved a 62% pay rise, and which reserves the right to strike if the rest of the social agreement fails good for him,” Patrick Anderson, head of consultancy firm AEG, told AFP.
According to American media, the ILA initially asked for a +77%. The social agreement expiring on September 30th has been extended until January 15th, to define other points.
“There is still work to be done, but this is an encouraging step in the right direction,” said Mobile Port Director John Driscoll.
The Port of Baltimore “congratulated” both sides on this agreement to “avoid a prolonged work stoppage,” noting “the significant consequences” of even a brief strike.
Biden welcomes ‘progress’
US President Joe Biden welcomed this agreement on Thursday evening, which “represents crucial progress towards a solid contract”. But “there are still many things to do,” he clarified on Friday.
The stakes were high because this strike risked causing short-term shortages of fresh produce and impacting industrial supplies and inflation if it continued.
This comes just before a hotly contested presidential election, with the cost of living at the forefront of Americans’ concerns.
The strike “concluded relatively quickly, eliminating any significant downside risk to the economy during the quarter,” commented Oxford Economics, which therefore does not intend to change its gross domestic product forecast for the fourth quarter.
Before the strike, the organization estimated that each week of the strike would reduce America’s GDP by $4.5 billion to $7.5 billion.
The 36 ports handle about half of the United States’ containerized imports and exports. And, on average, more than $2.1 billion in enterprise value per day, according to multiple sources.
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