The talks, which began in Lao several weeks ago, have stalled.
The Maritime Alliance of the United States, which represents employers in major ports on the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico, confirmed that the dock workers union refuses to return to the negotiating table.
The coalition contacted the Labor Inspectorate on Thursday calling for “an immediate injunction requiring the union to resume discussions,” and also denounced the unfair practices.
But the union appears determined to strike once the agreement expires at midnight on Monday, because “the financial proposals are not acceptable.”
It also called for guarantees against the use of robots.
This strike is the first since 1977, when the strike lasted 44 days, and will include tens of thousands of the union’s 85,000 members in 36 ports who work in container and vehicle loading stations in the ports spread along the coasts between Maine and Texas on the Gulf of Mexico, passing through Florida.
The social contract covers 25,000 union members working in fourteen ports (including Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Savannah, Miami, Tampa and Houston), but the scope of the strike could be broader than that.
Brent Moritz, a professor at Pennsylvania State University who specializes in supply chain management, said: “The strike will cause major disruption to the American economy and…Global economy“.
According to the specialized Lloyd’s List website, these ports receive more than half of goods imports by volume.
Oxford Economics estimates that each week of strikes would reduce US GDP by $4.5 to $7.5 billion.
The strike will begin just five weeks before the highly contested US presidential elections.
