NEW YORK (CNN) — Striking members of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) will return to work at ports on Friday, the union announced Thursday night, after the union and a management group representing shipping, terminal operators and port officials reached a tentative agreement on wages.
The union agreed to extend its contract with the United States Maritime Alliance, a management group known as USMX that represents shipping lines, terminal operators and port authorities. That contract, which expired at the end of Monday, has now been extended until Jan. 15, when the final details are finalized into a full agreement and approved by the rank and file, before union members are allowed to return to work.
About 50,000 members of the union, who work at ports from Maine to Texas, have gone on strike since Tuesday, halting most containerized imports into the United States and disrupting sales for American companies, along with many exports.
A provisional agreement must still be ratified by the ILA's ranking members before it can enter into force. But with ships stranded at sea unable to enter US ports to unload and load goods, the union agreed to return to work on Friday.
However, if members vote against the deal, the strike will resume. Rejecting a temporary labor contract is not unheard of.
Last month, the International Association of Mechanical Engineers (IAM) and aircraft manufacturer Boeing reached a tentative agreement that union leaders recommended their 33,000 members accept. But union members almost unanimously rejected it and went on strike since September 13.
The port strike was still in its early days, but if it had continued long enough it would have had widespread effects on the US economy.
Business groups have called on the Biden administration to order the strikers back to work. The shutdown has threatened supplies of everything from bananas to liquor to European luxury cars, all of which could have put upward pressure on prices with the busy Christmas shopping season less than two months away.
But President Joe Biden has refused to use his powers under the Taft-Hartley Act to prevent or end the strike, saying he will not interfere in the collective bargaining process. Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called on the USMX to negotiate an agreement with the ILA that would share registration profits equally with members.
