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Initial applications for U.S. unemployment capped 2024 at an eight-month low, reflecting the muted levels of job cuts in a labor market that has remained surprisingly resilient.

The world’s No. 2 container carrier urged customers to remove cargo from East and Gulf Coast ports in the U.S. to avoid the possible strike.

Facing a mid-January deadline to reach a deal, the planned talks are a welcome sign for shippers bracing for a labor disruption that would shut every major port on the U.S. East and Gulf coasts.

If insufficient progress is made on a deal by early Dec. 18, the board of union IG Metall is prepared to hold a vote at the end of the week to pave the way for 24-hour walkouts.

Imports at the Port of Los Angeles last month totaled 462,740 20-foot-equivalent units, or TEUs. The port also handled 122,716 export containers and 319,570 empty containers in October.

OMAHA, Neb. — The flurry of contract agreements announced this fall offers evidence that railroads and their unions are working to avoid the standoffs that led them to a brink of a strike in 2022.

The U.S. dockworkers union that halted cargo at every major port on the country’s eastern and southern coasts last month has called off talks with their employers over automation.

Dockworkers are set to meet with their employers in New Jersey, resuming negotiations on the key issue of automation that sparked a three-day strike at East and Gulf Coast ports last month.

Two terminals operated by Termont Montreal that account for about 40% of the port’s container handling capacity have been closed since Oct. 31 after unionized dockworkers walked off the job

Dock employers in British Columbia shut out workers Nov. 4 after a union’s strike notice, bringing trade to a halt across Canada’s busiest and third-busiest ports.