Docker-shipper pact OK'd for 30%, three-year boost

The labor peace and stability that are vital if US ports are to get an increased share of international trade have been ensured by a "historic" labor settlement, according to spokesmen for deep-sea shippers and the International Longshoremen's Association, who reached agreement on a three-year master labor contract here May 27.

The settlement covers more than 30 percent more in wages for workers in the next three years, Monitor labor correspondent Ed Townsend reports. Hourly pay, now at $10.40, will go up $1.20 each year to $14 an hour in the final contract year. Employer contributions to the union's pension funds will rise 25 cents an hour annually, to $3 an hour, and employer payments to welfare funds will go up a total of 50 cents, to $2 an hour, in the third year.