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Unionized dockworkers resumed labor talks this week with employers at ports across the nation as the deadline for a new contract looms two months away, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Still divided over the use of automation at ports, port industry officials and dockworkers are trying to reach a deal before the current contract expires on Jan 15. Dockworkers could stage a repeat of a three-day strike last month that shut down ports from Maine to Texas if a deal is not made in time.
The change in presidential administration that will take effect Jan. 20 is also looming over the negotiations, with shipping industry officials seeing the new Trump administration as more sympathetic to maritime employers than the Biden administration.
The International Longshoremen’s Association and employers were supposed to meet in New Jersey over four days this week. The union said Wednesday that talks broke down Tuesday because of employer plans to expand the use of semi-automated machinery at ports.
“Automation, whether full or semi, replaces jobs and erodes the historical work functions we’ve fought hard to protect,” the union says.
