Union pact averts India port strike

Port workers were scheduled to walk out Wednesday

A containership departs the Port of Chennai, India. (Photo: NiAk Stock/ Shutterstock)

A strike at India’s ports that further threatened the global supply chain was called off Tuesday after workers agreed to a new five-year contract.

The indefinite walkout by almost 20,000 workers across India’s biggest ports was scheduled for Wednesday.

Unions, which had first demanded a pay raise of around 10.6%, agreed to an increase of 8.5% over five years at negotiations in New Delhi, Reuters reported.

Negotiations had been ongoing since 2021. The previous pact expired in December of that year.

Annual cargo volume totals 1.62 billion metric tons through the ports of Chennai, Cochin and Mumbai, the news service reported. 

India forecast total exports of $776.68 billion in fiscal 2023-24, up from $776.4 billion the previous fiscal year.

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Stuart Chirls

Stuart Chirls is a journalist who has covered the full breadth of railroads, intermodal, container shipping, ports, supply chain and logistics for Railway Age, the Journal of Commerce and IANA. He has also staffed at S&P, McGraw-Hill, United Business Media, Advance Media, Tribune Co., The New York Times Co., and worked in supply chain with BASF, the world's largest chemical producer. Reach him at stuartchirls@firecrown.com.