India Averts Dock Strike

Unionized port and dock workers in India called off a threatened indefinite strike that was to start at midnight on Monday, averting potential work stoppages at the country’s major maritime hubs.

The settlement came after Shipping Minister G.K. Vasan held talks with union leaders, and approved a new five-year wage contract covering a 23-percent hike in basic pay.

Ministry officials said the increase is retroactive to January 2007, and is expected to benefit nearly 60,000 workers.

The agreement, hammered out after months of negotiations between the Indian Ports Association and labor federations, will raise the state-owned ports’ wage costs by an estimated $100 million a year.

In return, trade unions representing the workers agreed to improve labor efficiency and productivity at the gateway ports in a bid to minimize additional pressure on port finances.

There are 12 major ports in India, equally spread over the west and east coasts, which handled 530 million tons of cargo in fiscal 2008-09, compared with 519 million tons the previous year.

Overall cargo throughput during April-November, the first eight months of fiscal 2009-10, grew 4.17 percent to 362.8 million tons from 346.5 million tons in the year-ago period. Container throughput was estimated at 4.4 million 20-foot equivalent units, down from 4.7 million TEUs.