In an attempt to avert the strike of port workers of ports on the East Coast and the U.S. Gulf, the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), an organization representing the shipping companies and port operators of these ports, filed an appeal yesterday for unfair practices (Unfair Labor Practice) against the International Longshoremen's union Association (ILA) at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency tasked with safeguarding the rights of workers and to prevent and remedy labour practices unfair practices carried out by employers and trade unions.

Specifying that USMX appreciates the work of the ILA and that it has great respect for its members, having a common history of collaboration, the employers' organization has explained that the appeal was filed "due to the repeated refusal of the ILA to sit down at the table and negotiate a new framework contract'. At the National Labor Relations Board, the USMX has requested the issuance of an immediate injunction that force the union to resume negotiations.

For its part, the ILA defined the appeal as "another publicity stunt" conceived by the employer and has replied that "foreign-owned companies represented by the USMX that land in American ports, earn billions of dollars in revenues and profits, bring these profits abroad and do not adequately reward workers ILA dockers for their work, are practicing a real and "unfair labor practice" and get away with it decades". "The fact that the USMX has presented these charges four days before the current contract expires - denounced the union, evidently closing any possibility of restarting negotiations in extremis - clearly shows how poor they have been as partners Negotiating. If the ILA had not entered into serious and productive negotiations, Most local agreements would not have been concluded over the last year".