Port Strike Averted
By 
Good news for the economy and for the longshoremen:
Dockworkers on the East and Gulf Coasts reached a tentative labor agreement with employers on Wednesday, averting a strike that could have hammered the economy days before President-elect Donald J. Trump took office.
The International Longshoremen’s Association, the dockworkers’ union, and the United States Maritime Alliance, the employers’ negotiating group, overcame their differences over a big sticking point in their talks: the introduction of automated cargo-moving machinery at the ports.
“This agreement protects current I.L.A. jobs and establishes a framework for implementing technologies that will create more jobs while modernizing East and Gulf Coasts ports,” the two sides said in a joint statement Wednesday evening.
After members of the International Longshoremen’s Association went on a short strike in October, the maritime alliance agreed to raise wages more than 60 percent over six years, provided that other parts of the labor agreement — including provisions on automation — were resolved by Jan. 15.
The longshoremen unions have long worked on the principle of introducing technology while maintaining some jobs and with really very large paychecks for those who retain their jobs. The east coast shippers got greedy and tried to upend that. The statements about the agreement did not give details about the specifics on automation. But it seemed to be acceptable to both sides.