WA tugboat engineers cancel strike action

Tugboat engineers at Australia's main iron ore port have cancelled strike plans and will vote on a enterprise agreement proposal.

The Port Hedland engineers, represented by the Australian Institute of Marine and Power Engineers, had been due to take industrial action for four hours on Wednesday.

But late on Tuesday, the Fair Work Commission made an interim order for them to stop the action.

The engineers will now vote by November 17 on a proposed enterprise agreement put forward by Teekay Shipping.

On Monday, the tugboat deckhands, represented by the Maritime Union of Australia, talked Teekay into giving them four weeks of paid leave a year.

It's understood tugboat masters, represented by the Australian Maritime Officers Union, agreed to a similar deal.