Tens of thousands of US dockworkers plan to strike next week if there is no breakthrough on contract talks, just a month before November's closely contested presidential election.

Some 25,000 dockworkers at East and Gulf Coast ports may strike as early as October 1 if their union doesn't reach a contract deal with shipping companies and port operators.

There’s less than a week until a dockworker strike could shutter every major container port on the US Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and cargo owners are trying to avoid the fallout.The International Longshoremen’s Association is threating to walk out if a deal isn’t reached before Oct.