NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - West Coast ports could be a matter of days away from reopening, but bringing the two sides to an agreement and restoring labor peace to the docks will apparently be a much tougher job.

President Bush moved Monday to take the first step to exercise his powers under the seldom-used Taft-Hartley act to order management to end its lockout of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union's 10,500 members at the coast's 29 ports.

A federal judge could order an 80-day cooling off period as soon as Tuesday, and that could lead the ports to open as soon as Wednesday. That would allow trade between the United States and Asia that has been choked off since late September to start moving across the docks again.

But the accusations and recriminations Monday between labor and management indicated that the two sides are far apart on a new labor agreement. And without an agreement during the 80 days, there could be another round of lockouts or union job actions late this year or early next year.

The key to the labor dispute is management's demand to allow data collected by shipping lines and their customers to be easily downloaded into computers at the ports, rather than reentered by hand by ILWU-represented clerks.

The Pacific Maritime Association, the management group that represents the major shipping lines and port terminal operators, insists that without the use of this well-established but now prohibited technology, ports will not be able to handle the expected increases in trade between the United States and Asia.

"We expect the ports to double their through-put in seven years, and in seven years we will be gridlocked at the ports if we operate the way we do today," said PMA CEO Joseph Miniace Monday.

Miniace said PMA made a very attractive offer to the union Sunday evening, offering what it said amounted to a 25 percent increase in pension benefits to an average of $50,000 a year, an offer he said would cost the group $1 billion.

"PMA has worked to prepare a contract offer that is second-to-none in America," said a statement from Miniace. "We are confident that this offer will bridge the gap that exists between the two sides and bring this issue to resolution."

Miniace said that while there was not a general pay increase during the first three years of the contract, several job classifications would have seen significant pay raises in those three years.

But ILWU said that the offer was a poor one that management knew would not be acceptable to the union on a variety of points, including the arbitration process and the outsourcing of work by PMA.

"On issue after issue they stepped backwards and made it worse," charged Stallone.

Wages are not the key sticking point in the talks. ILWU members already are the nation's best-paid blue collar employees, with longshoremen earning an average of $82,895 last year, while clerks earned an average of $118,844 and foremen, who are members of the union, earned an average of $157,352.

Many of those in the longshoremen classification do not work full time. In fact only 53 percent work 2,000 or more hours a week, which comes out to about 40 hours a week throughout the year. Those working full-time have an average pay of $106,883.

"Our plan includes important enhancements for longshoremen, who for years have been concerned about their income potential compared to that of marine clerks or foremen," Miniace said.

Miniace's statement suggests that management is looking for a split to develop in the normally very unified ILWU. Under Taft-Hartley, if there is no negotiated agreement within the first 60 days of the cooling-off period, then management's last offer is put to the union membership for a secret ballot. The PMA apparently hopes that the lower-paid longshoremen, who make up a majority of ILWU membership, would be willing to vote for a contract offer that might be opposed by the better-paid clerks, who have more to lose from the introduction of technology.

"I think the rank and file is a very good group of people that are anxious to go back to work," Miniace said. "I think they will be thrilled with what they see here."

Union officials insist they are speaking for the rank-and-file's interests and that membership support is strong across all the classifications.

"Although PMA has characterized the proposal as generous, it offers very little and takes away a lot," said ILWU International President James Spinosa. "Management's strategy is to do away with the union piece by piece until it can run the ports with no union workers at all."

There are no talks now scheduled between the two sides but talks would take place under the auspices of a federal mediator if a judge orders a reopening of the ports under Taft-Hartley.