Ports seek order to force dockworkers to bargaining table as strike looms at East and Gulf ports

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 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.

In an email, the NLRB said it is investigating the complaint. It's unlikely that the board would make a decision until well after the strike deadline. The NLRB says typically it takes seven to 14 weeks to decide on the merits of a charge.

The NLRB request 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 jobs.

“USMX has been clear that we value the work of the ILA and have great respect for its members,” the alliance statement said. “We have a shared history of working together and are committed to bargaining.”

The union called the NLRB filing “another publicity stunt” from the alliance and said the foreign-owned shipping companies it represents earn billions of dollars and take the money out of the U.S. The companies, it said in a release, “fail to adequately compensate the ILA longshore workforce for their labor.”

The ILA accused shipping companies that are part of the alliance of being unprepared for contract talks when the two sides met more than two years ago.

“USMX filing these charges four days before the expiration of the current master contract clearly illustrates what poor negotiating partners they have been,” the ILA said.

In early bargaining, industry analysts say the union sought 77% pay raises over six years to make up for inflation and give workers a chunk of the billions made by shipping companies since the coronavirus pandemic.

The union says both sides have communicated multiple times in recent weeks, but a stalemate remains because the Maritime Alliance is offering a pay increase that’s unacceptable.

Top-scale port workers now earn a base pay of $39 an hour, or just over $81,000 a year. But with overtime and other benefits, some can make in excess of $200,000 annually. Neither the union nor the ports would discuss pay levels. But a 2019-2020 report by the Waterfront Commission, which oversees New York Harbor, said about a third of the longshoremen based there made $200,000 or more.

The ILA has disputed claims it attributed to the alliance that the union’s demands amount to a wage increase of over 75% over the life of the contract.

“Deceiving the public with misleading calculations is not going to help get an agreement with the ILA,” President Harold Daggett said in the statement issued Monday.

The union has said shippers have made billions since the pandemic began. Copenhagen-based-Maersk, among the world’s largest container shipping companies, made more than $50 billion in profits over the past four years. Earnings, though, dropped substantially in 2023 as pandemic-era consumer demand eased and brought sky-high freight rates back down.

A strike would shut down as many as 36 ports that handle nearly half of the cargo going in and out of the U.S. on ships.

If a strike were resolved within a few weeks, consumers probably wouldn’t notice any major shortages of retail goods. Many retailers and other businesses have stocked up on goods in anticipation of a strike.

But a work stoppage that persists for more than a month would likely cause a shortage of some consumer products, although most holiday retail goods have already arrived from overseas.

A prolonged strike would almost certainly hurt the U.S. economy. Even a brief strike would cause disruptions. Heavier vehicular traffic would be likely at key points around the country as cargo was diverted to West Coast ports, where workers belong to a different union not involved in the strike. And once the longshoremen’s union eventually returned to work, a ship backlog would likely result. For every day of a port strike, experts say it takes four to six days to clear it up.

If a strike occurs, it would be the first national work stoppage by the ILA since 1977.

FILE - Container ships are docked at the Port of New York and New Jersey in Elizabeth, N.J., on May 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

FILE - A container ship makes it way toward the Port of New York and New Jersey in Elizabeth, N.J., on June 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

FILE - In this photo provided by the Georgia Ports Authority, a vessel is loaded with containers by several ship to shore crane at the Georgia Ports Authority's Port of Savannah Garden City Terminal, on Oct. 21, 2021, in Savannah, Ga. (Stephen B. Morton/Georgia Port Authority via AP, File)

Ports seek order to force dockworkers to bargaining table as strike looms at East and Gulf ports

Ports seek order to force dockworkers to bargaining table as strike looms at East and Gulf ports

FILE - Cranes at the Port of New York and New Jersey appear behind the Statue of Liberty, Nov. 20, 2022, in a photo taken from New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)

The risk of a catastrophic explosion at a damaged chemical tank in Southern California has been eliminated following a close overnight inspection that confirmed a crack in the tank relieved pressure and cooled the chemical, authorities said Monday.

Officials said crews conducted tank temperature checks at night to reduce risks to firefighters, avoiding daytime operations when heat from the tank made conditions around it most dangerous. The overnight mission allowed crews to verify the crack and confirm temperatures were falling, Orange County Fire Authority division chief Craig Covey said Monday morning.

Covey said the results of overnight evaluation of the tank — that the temperature inside had dropped and that pressure had been released — was “incredibly positive news.”

However, evacuation orders remained in place for about 50,000 people in Garden Grove, California, located south of Los Angeles.

Covey said falling temperatures and the release of pressure from the tank were allowing officials to “turn the corner on this incident” after days of concern about a possible explosion.

There has been no chemical leak as of early Monday, but the Orange County Fire Authority said the risk to public safety is “ongoing.”'

After the tank overheated Thursday and began venting vapors, firefighters have repeatedly sprayed the tank with water in an attempt to cool the chemical inside, methyl methacrylate, which is used to make plastic parts.

The tank's interior reached 100 degrees (37.7 Celsius) Sunday, an increase of 10 degrees Fahrenheit (5.5 Celsius) since Saturday, according to Democratic state Sen. Tom Umberg. On Monday, Covey said the temperature fell to 93 degrees F (33.9 degrees C).

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency Saturday and said he asked President Donald Trump to issue an emergency declaration to bolster federal support for local and state officials.

The tank at GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems, which makes parts for commercial and military aircraft, holds 6,000 to 7,000 gallons (22,700 to 26,500 liters) of methyl methacrylate used to make plastic parts.

The first goal of firefighters was to cool off the chemical inside the tank to prevent a leak or explosion.

Drones were monitoring temperatures at 10-minute intervals to watch for any spikes. Containment barriers were set up to prevent the chemical from getting into storm drains or reaching creeks or the nearby ocean in the event of a spill, Covey said earlier.

As the interior temperature rises, methyl methacrylate converts from a liquid to a gas and increases the pressure, according to Purdue University engineering professor Andrew Whelton, who had said earlier that the crack could mean product or pressure is being released, reducing the chance of explosion.

“Think of a soda can. If you leave it in a hot car it can explode,” Whelton said. “But if you put a hole in the can, the product is released and the can itself doesn’t explode.”

An explosion that could spread the chemical over a broad area and send shrapnel flying would be the worst-case scenario, he said.

Aerial photos taken by The Associated Press showed streets in the area were empty Sunday, while several evacuation shelters were open. At a high school in neighboring La Palma, people slept in cars or on mats and sleeping bags on the asphalt.

Garden Grove is next to Anaheim, home to Disneyland’s two theme parks, which were not under evacuation orders. Park officials said they were monitoring the situation.

Exposure to methyl methacrylate can cause serious respiratory problems, neurological problems and irritation to the skin, eyes and throat, according to fact sheets about the chemical.

Whelton said if an explosion occurs, it will be crucial to conduct detailed air monitoring specifically for methyl methacrylate and not just generic tests for volatile organic compounds as officials did after a 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which released more than 115,000 gallons (435,000 liters) of vinyl chloride after officials blew open five tank cars and burned the chemical.

Orange County health officials said the chemical is easy to smell and people may notice it over a large area without being harmed.

Some Garden Grove residents filed a class-action federal lawsuit Saturday against GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems, which operates the facility where the tank is located. Lawyers for the residents argued that regardless of what happens, property values in the surrounding community are sure to be impacted.

GKN Aerospace did not comment on the lawsuit but has apologized to residents and businesses forced to evacuate. It said Sunday it was “working around the clock to mitigate the risk of a leak.”

GKN Aerospace agreed in 2025 to pay state regulators more than $900,000 to settle violations involving recordkeeping, permitting issues and nitrogen oxide emissions, according to a report on the South Coast Air Quality Management District website.

Associated Press journalist Ethan Swope in Garden Grove, California, contributed to this report.

An evacuation map is displayed at the incident command post at the Los Alamitos Race Course in Cypress, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

Water is sprayed on a damaged tank at GKN Aerospace in Garden Grove, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026, after the tank containing a chemical used to make plastic parts overheated Thursday. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

The streets remain empty in Garden Grove, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026, after a storage tank containing a chemical used to make plastic parts overheated Thursday at an aerospace plastics facility. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

Emergency personnel work at the incident command post at the Los Alamitos Race Course Sunday, May 24, 2026, in Cypress, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

Water is sprayed on a damaged tank at GKN Aerospace in Garden Grove, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026, after the tank containing a chemical used to make plastic parts overheated Thursday. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)