A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The strike that shut down East Coast and Gulf Coast ports is over.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The dockworkers' union reached a tentative deal with ocean carriers and port operators. This ends a three-day strike for now. Negotiators faced two big questions, and this agreement answers one while leaving the other unresolved.
MARTÍNEZ: Let's bring in NPR's labor correspondent Andrea Hsu. So what's the question they answered, Andrea?
ANDREA HSU, BYLINE: Yeah, well, it was wages. You know, the union had wanted 77% in raises over six years. The companies had offered close to 50%. The White House was working furiously behind the scenes, talking to the companies, talking to the union, trying to get them back to the table. And it appeared in the end they met somewhere in the middle. They landed on the 62% increase over six years. That's according to people familiar with the talks who weren't authorized to speak. Any way you look at it, A, 62% is a big number and a big win for the union.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. What was the case for that raise?
HSU: Well, the union's president, Harold Daggett, has really hammered the point that the ocean carriers - you know, companies like Maersk and China Ocean Shipping - that they, along with the companies that run the ports, had made so, so much money during the pandemic. And President Biden, you know, was backing him up on this, saying ocean carriers, in some cases, had seen their profits grow by 800% during the pandemic - 800%. Biden pointed out, you know, the CEOs and the shareholders had gotten their share, and workers deserve something meaningful, too. After all, they had shown up every day all through COVID, putting themselves at risk.
I talked with a labor historian about this yesterday, Peter Cole. He's at Western Illinois University. He said to me, you know, I think that - he thought the union's demands of a 77% raise were reasonable for all the reasons Biden cited. And he also pointed out this is a six-year contract that they're negotiating, and that's a really long time.
PETER COLE: Six years really ties your hands because, like, who knows what the economy looks like?
HSU: You know, A, back in 2018, when they negotiated their last contract, no one had any idea that a pandemic was coming, that the shipping industry would go bonkers or that inflation would get as high as it did.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. Now, OK, earlier we mentioned a big unresolved question. How did they address that?
HSU: Yeah, well, this other issue is automation. The union wants language ensuring that humans will continue to do the work of moving shipping containers, not machines. And the two sides have agreed to extend the old contract until the middle of January, so they can continue to negotiate that and all these other issues. Harold Daggett, the union president, said even partially automated equipment is a problem. He called it a back door to getting rid of workers. The thing is, A, there are already several ports on the East Coast that have advanced technology. They have these automated cranes that move containers around the container yards, that put them on trucks. So it's really hard to see how you go backwards from there. It's really shaping up to be a bitter fight.
MARTÍNEZ: Right. So now that everyone can take a deep breath and blow out, Andrea, is it safe to say that an economic crisis was avoided?
HSU: Yeah, I mean, for now. It will take some days to get everything back to normal. Container ships have been piling up off the East Coast and the Gulf Coast, you know, just waiting for the strike to end. Yesterday, just hours before the strike ended, I talked to an artificial Christmas tree importer who said, you know, we have trees, we have wreaths, we have garlands stuck on these ships. So they are no doubt relieved that the strike is over and that these decorations will be making their way to shore well in time for the holidays.
MARTÍNEZ: I'll be shopping for that artificial tree soon then. NPR's labor correspondent Andrea Hsu, thank you.
HSU: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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