THE potentially crippling strike at the United States' East and Gulf Coast ports, which lasted only three days, has come to an end with likely only limited damage to America's economy, reports CNN.
Members of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), the union representing 50,000 members covered under the contract with the United States Maritime Alliance, were back on the job early last Friday after the two sides reached an agreement on the key dispute in the strike that started early Tuesday - the scale of wage increases.
The work stoppage had threatened to disrupt supply chains, causing shortages of some consumer goods and supplies needed to keep us factories running. It also temporarily cut off the flow of many American exports, putting overseas sales at risk for some US businesses.
But relatively little damage was done, especially since many shippers had rushed to move their goods through the ports ahead of the 12:01 am Tuesday start of the strike, a deadline that had been known for months.
But it will still take a while for the flow of goods to return to normal. Ahead of the strike various logistics experts had said it would take three to five days to recover from any one day the ports were shut.
For example, the Port of New York and New Jersey, the largest port that was affected and the nation's third-largest port by cargo volume, as well as the Port of Virginia both announced to shippers that their gates would remain closed to trucks Friday as the two ports work to get containers positioned to move around their grounds as soon as possible.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey lost between US$250-300 million dollars a day during the strike by members of the ILA, said Bethann Rooney, the port's director.
There were 24 ships at anchor waiting to get into the Port of New York and New Jersey to unload as of Friday morning. They include four car ships, one specialty ship, and nineteen container ships carrying 35,000 import containers with all types of consumer goods.
There are an additional 35,000 containers on inbound ships to the port. The port on average receives 400,000 containers a month.
It is not unusual for a port to be closed for 2-3 days because of storms. The Port of NY/NJ was closed for five days or longer during Hurricane Sandy and 9/11 and was 'able to recover very quickly', said Mr Rooney.
Thursday's deal likely is the end of the strike, but it doesn't close the door on a new strike in the future. The final language in the full contract, when it is completed, will need to be ratified by the union's rank-and-file members before it can take effect.
Should the members vote against the deal; the strike might start once again. And such a rejection of a tentative labour deal is not unheard of.
Just last month, the International Association of Machinists and jet maker Boeing (BA) reached a tentative deal, which union leaders recommended their 33,000 members accept. The leadership even described it as the best deal they had ever negotiated with the company. But union members voted nearly unanimously to reject it and have remained on strike since September 13.
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Members of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), the union representing 50,000 members covered under the contract with the United States Maritime Alliance, were back on the job early last Friday after the two sides reached an agreement on the key dispute in the strike that started early Tuesday - the scale of wage increases.
The work stoppage had threatened to disrupt supply chains, causing shortages of some consumer goods and supplies needed to keep us factories running. It also temporarily cut off the flow of many American exports, putting overseas sales at risk for some US businesses.
But relatively little damage was done, especially since many shippers had rushed to move their goods through the ports ahead of the 12:01 am Tuesday start of the strike, a deadline that had been known for months.
But it will still take a while for the flow of goods to return to normal. Ahead of the strike various logistics experts had said it would take three to five days to recover from any one day the ports were shut.
For example, the Port of New York and New Jersey, the largest port that was affected and the nation's third-largest port by cargo volume, as well as the Port of Virginia both announced to shippers that their gates would remain closed to trucks Friday as the two ports work to get containers positioned to move around their grounds as soon as possible.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey lost between US$250-300 million dollars a day during the strike by members of the ILA, said Bethann Rooney, the port's director.
There were 24 ships at anchor waiting to get into the Port of New York and New Jersey to unload as of Friday morning. They include four car ships, one specialty ship, and nineteen container ships carrying 35,000 import containers with all types of consumer goods.
There are an additional 35,000 containers on inbound ships to the port. The port on average receives 400,000 containers a month.
It is not unusual for a port to be closed for 2-3 days because of storms. The Port of NY/NJ was closed for five days or longer during Hurricane Sandy and 9/11 and was 'able to recover very quickly', said Mr Rooney.
Thursday's deal likely is the end of the strike, but it doesn't close the door on a new strike in the future. The final language in the full contract, when it is completed, will need to be ratified by the union's rank-and-file members before it can take effect.
Should the members vote against the deal; the strike might start once again. And such a rejection of a tentative labour deal is not unheard of.
Just last month, the International Association of Machinists and jet maker Boeing (BA) reached a tentative deal, which union leaders recommended their 33,000 members accept. The leadership even described it as the best deal they had ever negotiated with the company. But union members voted nearly unanimously to reject it and have remained on strike since September 13.
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