With 45,000 longshoremen at 36 U.S. ports from Maine to Texas on strike for the first time in decades, experts say the workers may wield the upper hand in their standoff with port operators over wages and the use of automation.
Organized labor enjoys rising public support and has achieved a string of recent victories in other industries, with the backing of the pro-union administration of President Joe Biden. Their negotiating stand is likely further strengthened from having the nation’s supply chain of goods under pressure from the effects of Hurricane Helene, which has coincided with the peak shipping season for holiday goods.
The union is also pointing to record profits that shipping companies have made, in part because of shortages resulting from the pandemic, and to a more generous contract that West Coast dockworkers achieved last year. Workloads for longshoremen also have increased, and the effects of inflation have eroded their pay in recent years.
In addition, commerce into and out of the US has been growing, playing to the union’s advantage. Further enhancing its leverage is a still-tight job market, with workers in some industries demanding and in some cases receiving a larger share of companies’ profits.
The dockworkers’ strike, their first since 1977, could snarl supply chains and cause shortages and higher prices if it stretches on for more than a few weeks.
In a prepared statement, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry called the strike “disheartening and troublesome.”
“Today’s strike by members of the International Longshoremen’s Association is disheartening and troublesome, especially for Louisiana, as we are a state with a considerable role in the nation’s distribution of exports, having exported nearly $53 billion worth of goods in 2023—everything from coffee to chemical products,” the statement reads. “The Port of Baton Rouge and the Port of New Orleans—critical domestic and international trade stops—are impacted.”
Beyond the financial blow of this strike, LABI says the strike will hamstring an already fragile supply chain that is still recovering from the pandemic. The organization’s leaders also expressed frustration that the Biden administration did not intervene in contract negotiations to prevent the strike.”
It is currently unclear as to what impact the strike will have on the Capital Region as well as with operations at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge. PGBR officials have been unresponsive to requests for comment from Daily Report, and Baton Rouge Area Chamber Senior Vice President of Marketing Morgan Almeida tells Daily Report that BRAC officials are unable to discuss the strike.
