News In Brief

British dock strike ended after 25 days

Transport and General Workers' Union leaders called off Britain's 25-day-old dock strike Tuesday, which has idled nearly half the nation's seaborne trade. The decision followed agreement between unions and the state-owned British Steel Corporation to allow coal shipments to the Ravenscraig steel plant in Scotland.

The dock strike tied up half of Britain's 10 top ports at an estimated cost the equivalent of $18.3 million in lost business. It began Aug. 24 when the company used nonunion labor to bypass a boycott of coal shipments, which the union mounted to support coal miners in their six-month-old strike.