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Dockworkers on the U.S. East and Gulf coasts overwhelmingly approved a six-year contract Tuesday, averting the threat of a strike that could have crippled the economy.

The yes vote was expected after the leadership of the International Longshoremen’s Association union reached a tentative contract agreement in January with the U.S. Maritime Alliance of ports and shipping companies.
The alliance approved the contract last month, and on Tuesday rank-and-file members voted for it with nearly 99% in favor, the union said in a statement.

The contract calls for a 62% pay hike over six years that would lift hourly wages at the top of the union pay scale from $39 an hour to $63 an hour.
ILA President Harold Daggett, who served as the union’s chief negotiator, was quoted in the statement as saying the agreement is “the ‘gold standard’ for dockworker unions globally.”

The union and the alliance also reached a truce on the most contentious labor issue on America’s docks: automation. The union fears job losses to machines, while port operators argue U.S. ports lag behind more automated hubs like Rotterdam, Dubai, and Singapore.

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