An agreement reached late Wednesday ended the immediate possibility of a strike by dockworkers in Limón and Moín, collectively the country’s principal port.

The government agreed to give dockworkers the money they are owed from a 2005 accord no later than Sept. 22. Government officials are expected to seek donations from private firms that depend on the docks to seek their products.

The workers also exacted a promise from government officials that a group of high-level officials would visit Monday to discuss ways to strengthen the agency that runs the Caribbean docks in a way to avoid any possible concession that the government might want to give to a private firm.

Workers fear a concession because the government is turning over this week the Pacific dock facilities in Caldera because the country does not have the cash needed to modernize them.

The agreement was between the workers, represented by the Federación de Trabajadores Limoneses and the Sindicato de Trabajadores de Japdeva. The government agency that runs the docks is the Junta de Administración Portuaria y de Desarrollo Económico de la Vertiente Atlántica.

Signing the agreement were Walter Robinson Davis and Rachid Esna for the government and Winston Norman and Ronaldo Bleasar for the unions.

Union workers had engaged in a slowdown, and the central government moved 60 to 70 members of its tactical squad into the Limón area Thursday in anticipation of a work stoppage or blockade of highways.

The Arias administration said Wednesday that it would be happy to pay the money to dock workers once a legal way is found to do so. The fiscal watchdog, the Contraloría General de la República, cut the funds from the Junta’s budget. In addition, a recent Sala IV constitutional court decision has voided much of the 2005 agreement entered into by the Abel Pacheco administration.