Shippers fear another strike amid union39;s hard line against automation
October39;s 3day strike ended in tentative deal, avoiding key issue of automation
Union says to return to negotiations in Nov ahead of Jan 15 deadline
Some shippers say 6070 risk of strike, some plan diverting goods to West Coast ports
Poststrike congestion remains at key ports of Savannah and Houston

Oct 30 Reuters U.S. shippers are steering clear of East and Gulf Coast ports amid worries the 45,000 dockworkers at those trade hubs will go on strike again if their union leader does not land a new contract with employers by a Jan. 15 deadline.

The International Longshoremen39;s Association ILA labor union and the United States Maritime Alliance USMX employer group had ended a threeday strike in October with a tentative agreement on wages, but left the thorny issue of port automation still to be resolved.

Anything we expect that we need in the back half of January, we39;re effectively diverting to the West Coast, said Chris Peterson, CEO of Graco high chair and CrockPot cooker maker Newell Brands, referring to the period after the new contract negotiating deadline.

Peterson said the company switched a couple of hundred containers of critical materials to the opposite coast to get ahead of what he expects will be a second strike lasting, at most, two weeks.

The Oct. 3 deal between the ILA and USMX gave workers a wage hike of around 62 over six years and restarted work at 36 affected ports…