Dockworkers’ union, employers to resume talks as strike threat looms

The labor union representing the 45,000 U.S. dockworkers who went on strike in the fall is returning to the negotiating table with port employers amid threats of carrying out another strike at East and Gulf Coast ports this month.

FOX Business confirmed Thursday that the International Longshoreman’s Association (ILA) and United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) will resume contract discussions on January 7 after talks broke down in November. The deadline to reach a deal before another strike is January 15th.

Both parties signed a tentative deal in October – which gave workers a 62% wage hike over six years –to end a three-day strike, but left issues related to automation unresolved.

The two sides are still at an impasse over automation. If a second strike occurs, the wage agreement agreed to in principle that ended the first strike would be taken off the table, and both sides would be back at square one.

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President-elect Trump expressed his support for dockworkers’ pushback against automation at U.S. ports last month after he met with ILA President Harold Daggett and Executive Vice President Dennis Daggett. 

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“The amount of money saved [from automation] is nowhere near the distress, hurt, and harm it causes for American Workers, in this case, our Longshoremen,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Foreign companies have made a fortune in the U.S. by giving them access to our markets. They shouldn’t be looking for every last penny knowing how many families are hurt.”

“They’ve got record profits, and I’d rather these foreign companies spend it on the great men and women on our docks, than machinery, which is expensive, and which will constantly have to be replaced,” the president-elect continued. 

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A source told FOX Business at the time that the USMX had a meeting set up with Trump’s transition team, but did not reveal when it would occur.

FOX Business’ Daniel Hillsdon and Reuters contributed to this report.