Port employers accused the ILA union of unfair labor practices and filed to force the union to return to negotiations. (Sam Wolfe/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images) ...

Unionized dockworkers resumed labor talks with employers across a swath of U.S. ports this week, with a deadline on a new contract two months away and both sides still divided over the use of ...

For their part, port operators and shipping companies argued that the U.S. is falling behind automated ports like those in Dubai, Rotterdam and Singapore. The stakes were high for the U.S. economy.

Dockworkers picket after a shipping port strike went into effect across the East Coast at the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 1, 2024.

The workers and port operators agreed to extend their contract to Jan. 15, 2025, while talks continued. A key sticking point in the negotiations for a new six-year labor contract is automation.

At the Port of New York and New Jersey, nearly 60 percent of the longshoremen made $100,000 to $200,000 in the 12 months through June 2020, the latest figures available, according to data from an ...