Striking members of the International Longshoremen’s Association will be back to work at the ports on Friday, the union announced Thursday evening, as the union and the management group representing shipping lines, terminal operators and port authorities have reached a tentative deal on wages. Related video above: Strike concerns consumers about potential strained supply chain The union agreed to extend the contract that had expired at the end of Monday until Jan. 15 and have the union members back on the job while the final details are worked out in a full agreement and it is ratified by the rank-and-file.
The 50,000 members of the union working at ports from Maine to Texas have been on strike since early Tuesday morning, halting the flow of the majority of containerized imports into the United States, along with many of the exports, disrupting the sales of American businesses overseas. A tentative deal would still need to be ratified by the rank-and-file ILA members before it would take effect. But with ships stuck at sea unable to come into U.
S. ports to unload and load goods, the union has agreed to have workers return to work on Friday. Still, should the members vote against the deal, the strike might start once again.
And such a rejection of a tentative labor deal is not unheard of. Just last month, the International Association of Machinists (IAM) and jet maker Boeing reached a tentative deal that union leaders recommended their 33,000 members accept and even describ.
