Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Ohio, is reacting to the tentative deal for port workers and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz by saying he’s an idiot for his previous claims about Tiananmen Square. (CBS News)
The labor union representing the 45,000 US port workers who went on strike this fall are returning to the bargaining table with port employers over threats to hold another strike at ports on the Eastern and Gulf Coasts this month.
FOX Business confirmed Thursday that International Association of Longshoremen (ILA) and the United States Maritime Federation (USMX) will resume contract talks on Tuesday after negotiations broke off in November. The deadline for reaching an agreement before a new strike is January 15.
Strikers from the International Debtors Association walk in a column in Brooklyn, New York on October 2, 2024. (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Both sides signed a tentative agreement in October – which gave workers a 62% pay rise over six years – to end a three-day strike, but issues related to automation remain unresolved.
The two sides are still at an impasse over automation. If there is a second strike, the agreed-upon pay agreement that ended the first strike would be taken off the table and both sides would be back to square one.
THE ECONOMIST WARNS THAT THE AMAZON AND STARBUCKS STRIKES COULD ‘BACKFALL’
President-elect Trump expressed his support for the port workers’ walkout against automation at US ports last month after meeting with ILA President Harold Daggett and Executive Vice President Dennis Daggett.
International Longshoremen’s Association President Harold Daggett speaks as dock workers at Maher Terminals in Port Newark, New Jersey go on strike on October 1, 2024. (Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)
TRUMP HAS TO WALK A TIRE WITH STRIKING UNIONS: JEFF SICA
“Amount of money saved [from automation] it doesn’t come close to the distress, injury and harm it causes American workers, in this case our officials,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Foreign companies have made their fortunes in the US by giving them access to our markets. They shouldn’t be asking for every last penny knowing how many families have been hurt.”
President-elect Trump speaks to guests during a campaign visit to Drake Enterprises, an auto parts manufacturer, in Clinton Township, Michigan on September 27, 2023. (Scott Olson/Getty Images/Getty Images)
“They have record profits and I would rather these foreign companies spend it on great men and women on our docks than on machines that are expensive and will have to be replaced all the time,” continued the newly elected president.
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The source said FOX Business at the time USMX had a meeting scheduled with Trump’s transition team, but did not reveal when that would happen.
FOX Business’s Daniel Hillsdon and Reuters contributed to this report.
