DETROIT (AP) — With a strike deadline looming, the group representing East and Gulf Coast ports is asking a federal agency to make the Longshoremen's union come to the bargaining table to negotiate a new contract.
The U.S. Maritime Alliance says it filed an unfair labor practice charge on with the National Labor Relations Board alleging that the International Longshoremen's Association is not bargaining in good faith.
The alliance said in a prepared statement Thursday that it filed the charge “due to the ILA’s repeated refusal to come to the table and bargain on a new master contract.”
The ports are asking for immediate relief, an order requiring the union to resume bargaining. It was unclear just how fast the NLRB might act on the request. A message was left seeking comment from the agency. Its unlikely that the NLRB will rule on the complaint before the strike deadline, and with no talks scheduled, a strike appears to be likely.
The move comes just four days before the ILA's six-year contract with the ports expires, and the union representing 45,000 dockworkers from Maine to Texas says it will go on strike at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday.
The two sides haven't bargained since June in a dispute largely over wages and a union-proposed ban on increased automation of port cranes, gates and trucks that could cost humans their jobs.
Tom Krisher, The Associated Press
