US dockworkers' union suspends port strike until January 15 to allow time to negotiate new contract

The union representing 45,000 striking US dockworkers at East and Gulf coast ports has reached a deal to suspend a three-day strike until January 15, to provide time to negotiate a new contract.

Members of the International Longshoremen’s Association are to resume working immediately. Both sides also reached agreement on wages, but no details were given, according to a joint statement from the ports and union on Thursday night.

The union went on strike early on Tuesday after its contract expired in a dispute over pay and the automation of tasks at the ports from Maine to Texas.

Container ports from Houston to Miami and up to Boston have been closed since the labour contract between the ILA and the US Maritime Alliance, which represents terminal operators and shipping lines, expired.

Dozens of ships carrying containers and vehicles have anchored off the coast of major trade centres including New York, South Carolina and Virginia over the past few days.

The walkout raised the risk of shortages of goods on shop shelves if it lasted more than a few weeks. But most retailers had stocked up or shipped items early in anticipation of the work ban.

The union is demanding significantly higher wages and a total ban on the automation of cranes, gates and container-moving lorries that are used in the loading or unloading of freight at 36 US ports. Those ports handle about half of the nation's cargo from ships.

The opening demand was a 77 per cent pay rise over the six-year life of the contract, with the union saying this would make up for inflation and years of small rises.

ILA members have a base salary of about $81,000 a year, but some can make more than $200,000 annually with large amounts of overtime.

If a strike were deemed a danger to US economic health, President Joe Biden could have, under the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, sought a court order for an 80-day cooling-off period that would have suspended the strike.

But on Sunday, Mr Biden said he did not plan to intervene. “Because it’s collective bargaining, I don’t believe in Taft-Hartley,” he said.

Mr Biden has portrayed himself as one of the most pro-union leaders in US history. In September last year, he stood on the picket lines alongside striking motor workers in Michigan.