Contacts between the trade unions continue in the United States International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), the association representing the container shipping companies and port operators of the ports of the East Coast and the US Gulf, for the renewal of the contract of port workers of these ports. In view of the start of the strike called by the ILA starting from next October 1, however, the two sides have not taken any steps towards the that allows us to move from informal contacts to reopening of a negotiation table.

Confirming that in recent weeks the parties have communicated several times, yesterday the ILA explained that the stalemate remains because the USMX would continue to offer wage increases which the union considers unacceptable. "The USMX - specified Harold J. Daggett, president of the ILA - knows what is our minimum wage level so that our ILA members can ratify a new Master's degree Contract Agreement. Several times a week - said Daggett referring to the representatives of the USMX - they call me to try to get the ILA to accept a more poor. ILA members will not accept these offers offensive that are a mockery considering the work done from ILA's dock workers and the billions of dollars in profits that companies carry out on the backs of their work. The fault of the strike that in a week will close all the ports on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts - denounced the president of the union - falls entirely on the shoulders of the of the USMX'.

In addition, the ILA reiterated the accusation made against the employer to spread false news about the size of the increases urged by the union, asserting that they would amount to an increase in of more than 75% over the possible new agreement of the duration of six years: "To deceive the public with misleading calculations - said Daggett - will not help to achieve an agreement with the ILA. Also a pay increase of five dollars per hour for each year under a six-year agreement is equivalent only to an average annual increase of about 9.98%. ILA members - he added - they are as good at mathematics as those of any other company. They are well aware of the profits made by the companies they work for and are even more motivated to take to the streets on October 1 if they do not get the raise salary that they firmly believe they deserve".

For its part, the USMX, confirming the attempts aimed at convincing ILA to resume negotiations, reiterated that it was not possible to possible to schedule a new meeting.

Meanwhile, in view of the now imminent strike, the Federal The Maritime Commission (FMC) has highlighted to all parties that are subject to regulations issued by the federal agency that these rules remain in force during any period of shutdown of the activity of the port terminals and has specified that it had mandated its Bureau of Enforcement, Investigations, and Compliance to investigate any reports of breaches of regulations, warning that prosecute offenders by taking the most strict provisions of the laws. He then urged ocean carriers and port terminal operators to comply with the rules, including those that regulate tariffs, service contracts, scheduling arrivals at the terminals and, in particular, Demurrage & Cost Enforcement and Billing detention, billing of costs for parking periods of in ports which has recently been the subject of a New law ( of 23 February 2024).