Negotiations on a new labor contract covering workers at 36 East and Gulf Coast ports are set to resume next week between employers and their longshore union.
Representatives of the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) and the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) will meet in northern New Jersey, where both organizations have offices, sources confirmed.
Mediators will not be present at the talks, according to the sources, who requested anonymity as they were not authorized to comment publicly.
The USMX and ILA earlier declared a media blackout during negotiations.
Biden administration officials in October helped end a three-day strike by the ILA as the sides agreed to extend the current contract until Jan. 15 while negotiations resumed. The work stoppage shut down container handling and threatened a logjam of billions of dollars of imports ranging from pharmaceuticals and fresh fruits and vegetables to apparel and auto parts.
At the time of the extension, USMX and ILA agreed to a 62% pay hike over the six years of a new pact covering 45,000 union workers. Automation remains a key sticking point as the union has adamantly opposed the introduction of new port technology that could replace longshore jobs.
One option would have the sides extending ther current contract again while negotiations continued.
The Jan. 15 deadline which comes just days before the Jan. 20 inauguration of Donald Trump as president. Importers have been pulling shipments forward ahead of a possible second strike as well as tariffs planned by Trump on goods imported from China, but it’s unclear if ILA leadership would call for another work stoppage. ILA President Harold Daggett in the recent past met with Trump, and it’s uncertain if the new administration would invoke the Taft-Hartley Act to order striking longshore employees back to work, something the Biden administration refused to do.
Find more articles by Stuart Chirls here.
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