A secret meeting between key members of the International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance was held on Sunday in an effort to help the dockworkers’ union and ports ownership find common ground on the heated issue of automation and semi-automation. A document produced out of the meeting indicates a focus on the creation of new human jobs to complement any new port technology.

CNBC has learned that the eight-hour meeting took place ahead of the highly anticipated resumption of formal bargaining, and with a January 15 deadline to avoid a new strike by dockworkers. According to sources close to the talks who were granted anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the negotiations — talks had recently broken down over the issue — language on automation was drawn up to assist the full bargaining committee review process slated for Tuesday.

But the sources added that the language could lead to new concerns about added labor costs, and new risks to getting a comprehensive deal on wages and automation completed.

The meeting included individuals from port terminals where the technology at issue is already used, including rail-mounted gantry (RMG) cranes at container terminals in Bayonne, New Jersey, part of the Port of New York and New Jersey, and the NIT Terminal, part of the Port of Virginia. Among executives at the meeting were Paul Demaria, CEO of USMX; Kevin Price, president of Gateway Terminals; Joe Ruddy, chief operations officer of the Port of Virginia; John Atkins, president of GCT USA; and Anthony Ray, executive vice president of operations at Maher Terminals. Representing the union were ILA president Harold Daggett and his son Dennis, who is executive vice president of the ILA, and Virgil Moldonado, president of the NY/NJ chapter of the ILA 1588.