The International Longshoremens Association and the U.S. Maritime
Alliance, representing container carriers on the east coast, struck a tentative agreement
on a royalty payment for workers that had been a sticking point in
negotiations. The two sides will push back a deadline for reaching an overall contract from midnight tonight until Feb. 6.
A statement from George Cohen, federal government mediator in the dispute, said that with an agreement focused around container royalty payments, the payment per container moved. He said the sides would continue to discuss other issues in their contract negotiations during a 30-day extension to the existing contract.
Members of the International Longshoremens Association had been due to stop work at midnight Friday if no agreement was reached, in the first significant east coast port strike since 1977.
