The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance agreed to a tentative deal to end the strike. The terms of this deal include an over 60% raise for workers over six years and includes rules for automation for ports, bringing the contract for the East ad Gulft Coast union members closer in parity to the terms of the deal with the West Coast union.
The ILA walked off the job and onto picket lines following the expiration of their contract at midnight on the night of September 30, as reported last week. In the three days of the strike, billions of dollars in consumer goods were anchored offshore unable to be unloaded and thousands of shipping containers had been dumped at the wrong ports.
A longer strike would have dramatic effects on the tabletop gaming industry as products shipping from European publishers and distributors to the United States would be affected, while the knock-on effects of container shortages and increase of traffic at West Coast ports would affect imports for all over the country.
The strike has been suspended until January 15 to allow both sides to negotiate the finer details of the deal and for union members to vote on the deal. Americans responded to news of the strike in typical American fashion, by panic-buying milk and toilet paper, two products that are produced domestically and would be unaffected by the strike.
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