Port strike over as workers agree to new deal

TheStreet’s Conway Gittens brings you the biggest news of the day, including what investors are watching and how the port strike came to an end.

Transcript

00:00I'm Conway Giddens reporting from the New York Stock Exchange.

00:03Here's what we're watching on the street today.

00:05A surprisingly robust monthly employment report is giving the stock market some adrenaline.

00:10The U.S. economy added 254,000 jobs in September, which was not only better than expected,

00:16it was the biggest hiring number since March.

00:19The unemployment rate fell to 4.1%, and there's more good news.

00:23Wage growth continued to outpace inflation.

00:26Average paychecks were 4% higher than a year ago.

00:30But wait, there's more good news.

00:32The massive labor strike at ports stretching from Maine to Texas is over.

00:36The biggest labor walkout in nearly half a century ended after the two sides agreed to wage hikes.

00:42Workers will reportedly get a 62% raise stretched across six years.

00:48That works out to an eventual average hourly wage of $63, up from $39.

00:54Both sides issued a statement saying that they would extend a contract until January 2025,

01:00which allows them time to negotiate other issues.

01:03Quote, effective immediately, all current job actions will cease

01:08and all work covered by the master contract will resume.

01:12One issue which has not been resolved is the role of automation

01:15and how many jobs will be lost to technology.

01:18The end of the three-day strike is seen as a win for the Biden-Harris administration.

01:23Vice President Kamala Harris could hardly afford an economically crippling worker strike

01:28with less than a month to go before the election.

01:31The economy took a $5 billion hit each day of the strike, according to J.P. Morgan estimates.

01:37However, the work stoppage may be over, but the damage could linger.

01:42Logistics experts say it will take one week to undo each day of lost activity at the ports.

01:49That'll do it for your daily briefing from the New York Stock Exchange.

01:52I'm Conway Gittins with The Street.