Longshoremen at key US ports threaten strike over automation, pay

NORTH BERGEN, New Jersey: Nearly 45,000 dockworkers along the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts are threatening to shut down the ports that handle about half the nation's cargo from ships on October 1 to protest the automation of their jobs.

The International Longshoremen's Union is demanding significantly higher wages and a total ban on the automation of cranes, gates, and container movements used in the loading or un