Dockworkers union halts strike until Jan. 15 as bargaining continues

The strike that shut down operations of East and Gulf coast ports and threatened to cause significant damage to the U.S. economy has halted — at least for now. The union representing 45,000 U.S. dockworkers said it has agreed to suspend the strike that began Tuesday until early next year. and the United States Maritime Alliance Ltd. have reached a tentative agreement on wages and have agreed to extend the Master Contract until Jan. 15, 2025 to return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues,” according to a joint statement issued Thursday night. “Effective immediately, all current job actions will cease and all work covered by the Master Contract will resume.” The agreement will allow the union and the U.S. Maritime Alliance, which represents the shippers and ports, time to negotiate a new six-year contract. “One gets the sense that if the labor action continued, pressure on the administration to invoke its Taft-Hartley powers was increasing at a geometric rate given the optics and noise around the strike,” said Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist for RSM US, a tax and consulting firm.