LOS ANGELES, June 28 (Xinhua) -- Representatives of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) will continue contract talks over the weekend in hopes of reaching a new three-year labor pact by Tuesday, officials said Saturday.

    The current six-year contract covering some 26,000 longshore workers, marine clerks and foremen at 29 ports along the U.S. West coast expires Tuesday, but officials are optimistic that negotiations would remain peaceful if the talks continued past the deadline.

    If that happens, union officials said they will not call for a strike authorization vote.

    "It's always a possibility that we'll need to keep meeting after July 1, but folks are working hard to keep that deadline in mind," said Craig Merrilees, a spokesman for the ILWU.

    Officials on both sides of the bargaining table said they hope to avoid a repeat of the bitter 2002 labor dispute that eventually led to a 10-day lockout and shutdown of the ports, which ended only when President George Bush intervened.

    Ports management and the labor union had hoped to avoid conflict this time around when they launched contract talks on March 17, which was much earlier than the 60-day negotiating period previously recognized by both sides.

    "We are committed to resolving outstanding issues at the table and keep the ports running smoothly," said Steve Getzug, a spokesman for the PMA, a consortium of 72 shipping companies operating along the West Coast.

    It was reported that differences remain on issues like pensions, pay and job security between the two sides.

    The 29 ports in California, Oregon and Washington generate about 1.3 trillion dollars annually, representing about 11 percent of the country's gross domestic product, according to the PMA.

    About 20,000 of the ILWU's members work at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports complex, which handle more than 40 percent of the country's import and export goods.