Rep. Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Ohio, reacts to a tentative deal for port workers and Tim Walz says he’s a stickler on his previous Tiananmen Square claims. (Courtesy: CBS News)
The labor union representing the 45,000 U.S. port workers who went on strike in the fall is returning to the bargaining table with port employers amid threats of another strike at East Coast and Gulf ports this month.
FOX Business confirmed Thursday that the International Longshoreman’s Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) will resume contract discussions on Jan. 7 after talks broke off in November. The deadline to reach an agreement before another strike is January 15.
Striking members of the International Longshoremen’s Association, or ILA, walk a picket line on Oct. 2, 2024, in Brooklyn. The dock workers were on strike over wages, the use of automated technology and other labor issues. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The two sides signed a tentative deal in October – which gave workers a 62% pay rise 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 deal agreed in principle that ended the first strike would be off the table and both sides would be back to square one.
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President-elect Trump expressed his support for port workers’ opposition to automation at US ports last month after meeting with ILA President Harold Daggett and Executive Vice President Dennis Daggett.
Harold J. Daggett, president of the International Longshoremen’s Association speaks as dockworkers at the Maher Terminals in Port Newark go on strike on Oct. 1, 2024, in New Jersey. (BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)
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“The amount of money saved (by automation) is nowhere near the inconvenience, hurt and damage it causes to American workers, in this case, to those who live on Longshoremen,” Trump wrote on his Social Truth platform. “Foreign companies have made a fortune in the US by giving them access to our markets. They shouldn’t be looking for every last penny knowing how many families have been hurt.”
President-elect Donald Trump speaks to guests during a campaign stop at Drake Enterprises, an auto parts manufacturer, on September 27, 2023, in Clinton Township, Michigan. (Scott Olson/Getty Images/Getty Images)
“They have record profits and I would rather these foreign companies spend it on the great men and women on our docks than on machinery, which is expensive and constantly needs to be replaced,” the president-elect continued. . .
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A source said FOX Business at the time USMX had a meeting with Trump’s transition team, but did not reveal when it would happen.
FOX Business’s Daniel Hillsdon and Reuters contributed to this report.
