According to the Wise Finance APP, the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) stated that it has proposed to raise dock workers' wages by nearly 50% in order to resume negotiations with the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and avoid a major strike at East Coast and Gulf of Mexico ports.

USMX, representing terminal operators and shipping companies, stated in a declaration that within the past 24 hours, the organization has negotiated with the dockworkers' union regarding wage issues.

The statement said: "USMX has increased the quote and requested an extension of the current master contract."

A spokesperson for the dockworkers' union stated that he was unaware of such a proposal. The ILA, representing 45,000 port workers, has been threatening that if a new agreement is not reached between labor and management before the local time contract expires on September 30, the workers will go on strike at container ports on the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico from October 1.

According to sources, White House officials met with USMX management on Monday urging them to fairly and promptly resolve the deadlock.

Since the union canceled negotiations in June, talks have been deadlocked with significant disagreements remaining between the two sides on issues such as wages and automation disputes.

USMX stated in the declaration: "Our proposal is to increase wages by nearly 50%." The proposal also includes increasing employer contributions to employee retirement plans and enhancing healthcare choices.

One of the biggest issues in the negotiations is the automation equipment of container terminals.

USMX states that the current quote includes the same automation terms as the previous contract extended earlier this summer. The union states that they hope to have stricter restrictions on this type of technology.

According to reports, analysts at jpmorgan estimate that the strike will cost the US economy about $5 billion per day, as transportation of food, retail goods, and other products at busy ports including New York, Baltimore, and Houston will be disrupted.

Editor/ping