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

foxbusiness.com:

Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Ohio, reacts to a tentative deal for port workers and Tim Walz saying he's a knucklehead over his previous Tiananmen Square claims. (Courtesy: CBS News)

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.

Striking members of the International Longshoremen's Association, or ILA, walk a picket line on October 2, 2024, in Brooklyn. Dockworkers were striking over wages, use of automated technology and other labor issues.  (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images / Getty Images)

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. 

Harold J. Daggett, president of the International Longshoremen's Association speaks as dockworkers