Dockworkers on the 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.”
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