The “container cliff” has been averted.
On Friday, the dock workers’ union reached a
tentative agreement with shippers and port operators on the East Coast, federal
mediators said.
The breakthrough in talks means that the country won’t have to go through a
strike by 14,500 dock workers from Houston to Boston — a move that could
have been quite disruptive to the U.S. economy.For months, the International Longshoremen’s Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance have been battling over the issue of “container royalties,” a fee paid by shipping companies that is used to augment worker wages and benefits. That issue now appears to be resolved in principle, mediators said.
The union and the shipping companies will now extend the deadline another 30 days while they hash out the remaining issues on a new collective bargaining agreement.
