The dispute concerns the harbor owners' plans to install automated systems.
A new round of collective bargaining between the union and the employer is scheduled for next Tuesday, reports the news agency Bloomberg, citing a person with insight into the negotiating situation.
The deadline is set for mid-January. If no agreement has been reached by then, exports and imports to the USA via larger ports along the east and south coasts may be paralyzed, which in turn risks creating major disruptions in supply chains – both in the USA and worldwide.
The ports threatened by strike normally account for around half of all container imports to the USA, according to industry statistics.
A three-day port strike was interrupted early in October after the union International Longshoremen's Association and the employers agreed on wage increases of 62 percent over six years. But the issue of automation was never resolved.
