Longshoremen are returning to work at ports from Maine to Texas, just three days after walking out on a strike that threatened to cripple the economy if it went on for an extended period of time. In a joint statement Thursday night,

Forty-five thousand dockworkers went on strike Tuesday for the first time in decades at 36 U.S. ports, stretching from Maine to Texas. Here’s why.

When we said Monday that the contest “pits them against each other in a battle to crown the chonkiest bear,” we didn’t mean literally.

The port’s 170 workers are now set to return to work alongside the 45,000 other ILA members who had been on strike as of Tuesday, and any major disruptions which a prolonged closure may have posed to manufacturers’ supply chains will be largely avoided.

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.

The strike ends after a tentative deal was reached between the dockworkers and the management group United States Maritime Alliance, suspending a action that had the potential to disrupt the U.S. economy. The dockworkers won a 62 percent wage increase over six years, shy of their ask of 77 percent, according to a report from the Washington Post.

A 63 percent wage increase for East and Gulf Coast longshoremen helped halt the walkout, which threatened to damage the national economy had it continued.

At least 25,000 dockworkers across 14 ports along the East and Gulf coasts in the U.S. can return to work amid a tentative agreement made on wages that would extend their current contract until Jan. 15.

The union for striking dockworkers said Thursday evening they'll return to work at U.S. ports after reaching a tentative deal with the United States Maritime Alliance, ending three Why it matters: There were concerns that if the first port strike on the East Coast since 1977 had continued it could have hit supply chains and drive shortages and higher prices as the U.