Longshoremen and dockworkers, belonging to the ILU, are demanding "absolute airtight" protection against the threat of automation at U.S. ports.

Striking dockworkers reached a tentative agreement with port operators on Thursday for a 62 percent wage increase and have extended their contract through Jan. 15 to bargain over remaining issues.

Houston-area longshoremen along with thousands of other workers announced an end to their strike Thursday while they broker a new contract with port operators and distributors, ending a three-day work stoppage that threatened to send shock waves through the economy.

We’re prepared to stay on strike for as long as it takes to secure the wages and protections our members deserve.”

A port worker strike that’s seen 50,000 longshoremen walk off the job is sending some shoppers in the Mid-South into panic mode. Many stores are now putting in orders for extra supplies from their warehouses because of shoppers over-buying,

At midnight Tuesday, members of the International Longshoremen’s Association, which represents 45,000 dockworkers nationwide, began to strike as their contract expired. Although just a couple hours down the road,

About a hundred striking longshoremen marched by a terminal in the port of Baltimore. Some carried signs that read: “machines don’t feed families.”