US dockworkers agree pay deal

The shutdown halted $1bn of imports a day

US dockworkers' leaders have overwhelmingly backed a deal to solve the dispute that crippled ports up and down the west coast earlier this year.

Union negotiators have agreed a six-year deal to give workers higher wages and benefits, taking pay in some instances up to $90,000 (£57,000) a year.

The contract still has to pass a ballot of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union's 10,500 members, scheduled for 24 January.

But the near-unanimous backing of delegates after a four-day meeting is likely to persuade most members to vote in favour, observers believe.

The 10-day stoppage in the autumn saw containers stacked high on shorefronts, ships by the dozen stuck at sea off the ports, and multi-billion-dollar slowdowns for businesses reliant on just-in-time imports of parts.

Questions

Before the meeting, there had been fears that changes to working practices demanded by the employers might scuttle the deal.

While their east coast counterparts have long used computerised cargo tracking systems, the west coast ports are still using pen and paper.

Moving the system to a paperless one was vital for employers, as was a change to the wage scale to widen the gap between low-skill dock jobs on one hand and skilled foremen and crane operators on the other.

But after much debate the negotiators won the day.

"There wasn't as much opposition as I thought there would be," said Steve Stallone, a union spokesman. "But there were lots of questions."