U.S. Dockworkers, Employers Resume Talks

Unionized dockworkers and employers returned to the bargaining table with both sides still divided over the core issue of automation at the ports and barely more than a week to go before a potential strike at gateways from Maine to Texas.

- PAUL BERGER

Leaders of the International Longshoremen's Association, which represents tens of thousands of dockworkers across the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and industry officials began negotiations Tuesday in New Jersey for the first of three days of scheduled talks, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Representatives for the dockworkers and employers have been meeting informally in recent days in an effort to lay down a framework for a possible accord, the people said.

Hanging over the negotiations are deep disagreements over the use of automation on the docks and the threat of a repeat of a three-day strike that shut down major ports including New York-New Jersey, Houston and Georgia's Port of Savannah in October.

That walkout ended after Biden administration officials intervened and helped broker a tentative deal that raised the base hourly rate for ILA port workers to $63 from $39 over six years, an increase of 62%.

The agreement extended the current labor contract through Jan. 15, leaving the two sides to close a divide over the use of technology that union leaders say threatens jobs.