By Paul Berger

U.S. dockworkers and their employers agreed to resume formal talks Jan. 7, one week ahead of a potential strike that could shut down ports from Maine to Texas, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.

Leaders of the International Longshoremen's Association, which represents tens of thousands of dockworkers, will meet in New Jersey with representatives from the United States Maritime Alliance, which represents port operators and ocean carriers.

The current contract expires on Jan. 15, when dockworkers are threatening to stage a repeat of a three-day strike in October that shut down East Coast and Gulf Coast gateways, including the Port of New York and New Jersey and Georgia's Port of Savannah.

That walkout ended after employers under pressure from the Biden administration agreed to a tentative 62% pay increase over six years. The two sides agreed to extend the contract for three months while they negotiated other issues such as the use of automation on the docks.

The talks broke down in November when union officials bristled at employer plans to expand the use of semi-automated machinery at ports. President-elect Donald Trump in December threw his support behind the dockworkers, saying automation threatens jobs and that foreign-based ocean shipping companies, which control the employer group, should invest in wages instead of machinery.

Write to Paul Berger at paul.berger@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 02, 2025 10:23 ET (15:23 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.