NEWS FLASH: ILWU, PMA reach contract agreement

U.S. Labor Secretary Perez announced Friday night the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association reached an agreement on a new five-year contract.

   U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez announced Friday night the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association have reached an agreement on a new five-year contract.    Perez said container ports up and down the West Coast will resume working “full bore” on Saturday but said he did not know how long it will take to work off the backlog in container traffic.    “They understand the urgency of the task,” he said.    The agreement comes after 10 months of negotiations, slowdowns and congestion at West Coast ports that have resulted in dozens of ships sitting at anchor or circling off shore.    Details of the agreement have not been released.

Unquote