US ports brace for potential dockworkers strike [Video]

Tens of thousands of US dockworkers plan to strike next week if there is no breakthrough on contract talks, just a month before November’s closely contested presidential election.

A walkout affecting 14 large ports on the East and Gulf Coast could start at midnight on Tuesday October 1, posing a potentially significant headwind to the US economy.

Negotiations on a new contract began in May but have stalled in recent weeks.

The United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents shipping companies and terminal operators, on Thursday asked federal officials to intervene, citing the union’s “repeated refusal to come to the table.”

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) dismissed the complaint as “another publicity stunt.”

The union is pressing for protections against automation-related job loss and for hefty wage hikes after dockworkers kept providing essential services throughout the pandemic.

ILA President Harold Daggett dismissed USMX’s “low-ball wage offer” as a “joke,” signaling …