The Bermuda Industrial Union has agreed to a four percent pay rise for dock workers, ending a work-to-rule period that has delayed imports and resulted in cargo being returned to the US without being unloaded.

At a meeting yesterday, cargo management firm Stevedoring Services and the BIU settled on a four percent increase for workers despite the union having originally demanded an eight percent rise, which was then lowered to six percent.

Work will resume as normal on the docks today for the first time in almost a month.

Earlier this week, the industrial action resulted in 22 containers being returned to the US without being unloaded in Bermuda.

Stevedoring Services chairman Henry Hayward told The Royal Gazette last night that those crates would be brought back from Florida on Tuesday on the freight ship Somers Isles.

The pay dispute and resulting overtime ban has caused serious problems across a number of sectors.

Supermarkets have complained of waiting longer than usual for food, while the construction industry has been hit particularly hard without delivery of key equipment and materials from overseas.

"The entire construction industry, from steel erectors, to carpenters, to tilers, all depend on regular deliveries of materials in order to keep working," Construction Association of Bermuda President Alex DeCouto said. "Delays in material delivery equates to men standing around, or possibly even layoffs."

Bermuda Container Lines spokesperson Robert Lewis said that his firm is currently waiting for more construction equipment to be brought in than can fit on any one ship. He added that Bermuda's truckers have been affected by this month's industrial action, their workload lighter than usual without cargo to transport.

"It has seriously affected their livelihood," Mr. Lewis said.

BIU spokesman Chris Furbert said he was "pretty much satisfied" with the settlement, adding that the union never expected to get the full eight percent it initially demanded. "That was on the negotiating table," he said.

He explained that the closure of the dock at Number Seven Shed has resulted in a loss of work for employees, about 25 of whom are now working four-day weeks.

"I think the workers have had to sacrifice knowing that the dock isn't what it was two or three years ago," Mr. Furbert said. Yesterday's agreement will be reviewed in January 2010, rather than after two years as initially proposed.

"There has been a drastic drop-off in cargo," said Mr. Hayward. "By the end of the year we'll have a better idea of where the economy stands."