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Friday, August 14, 2015

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Panama Canal expansion construction continues as strike averted

The consortium doing the work to expand the Panama Canal has reached a deal with workers to raise wages and head off a proposed strike.

The workers' union had threatened to strike on Wednesday (8-12) unless the GUPC consortium, comprised of Spanish builder Sacyr, Italy's Salini Impregilo and Belgium's Jan de Nul, agreed to raise salaries.

The Panama Canal Authority had asked the two parties to reach a deal to avoid another work stoppage, which would cast doubts on the planned April 2016 launch of the expanded section of the waterway.

In 2014, a strike stalled work on a third set of locks for 15 days, generating a multi-million dollar loss

Photo credit: Reuters/Carlos Jasso

for the country.

For more of the Reuters story: uk.reuters.com