Temporary agreement in western US ports

Bloomberg said on November 1st that harbor workers and shipping companies in US western ports have reached a temporary agreement on core principles. Instruments introductions will be used to reduce physical workloads while union workers will handle office jobs as well.

Based on this agreement reached, both parties will work to coordinate other contentious points.

Mr. Peter Hurtgen, a federal government coordinator, said that the different views on pension plans has not been solved yet. Port laborers in the Ports of California, Oregon, and Washington states stopped work for 10 days in 29 ports when they failed to agree on working conditions with shipping companies. They came back to work after receiving a court order.

Shipping companies, however, have asserted that port laborers are instead staging slow-downs that are causing huge troubles for shipping and transportation.

Mr. Steve Cohn, professor of Berkley University, confirmed the slow-down allegations, saying smooth work on the US western ports affected the global economy immediately.

Work in west coast ports restarted on October 9th with 15,000 laborers handling foods, toys, and car parts.

US western ports see 300 billion dollars of import and export cargoes pass through them annually.