US US port strike by 45,000 dockworkers is all but certain to begin at midnight - A Rather Unique October Surprise

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FILE - Shipping containers are stacked in the Port of New York and New Jersey in Elizabeth, N.J., May 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

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FILE - In this photo provided by the Georgia Ports Authority, Griff Lynch, President and CEO of the Georgia Ports Authority, provides an update on the Port of Savannah’s progress and future trajectory to 1,200 leaders from the maritime, supply chain, business and political sectors Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, during the annual State of the Port event in Savannah, Ga. (Stephen B. Morton/Georgia Ports Authority via AP, File)

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FILE - Containers are moved at the Port of New York and New Jersey in Elizabeth, N.J., on June 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Updated 12:13 PM GMT-5, September 30, 2024
NEW YORK (AP) — The union representing U.S. dockworkers signaled that 45,000 members will walk off the job at midnight, kicking off a massive strike likely to shut down ports across the East and Gulf coasts.
The coming work stoppage threatens to significantly snarl the nation’s supply chain, potentially leading to higher prices and delays for households and businesses if it drags on for weeks. That’s because the strike by members of the International Longshoremen’s Association could cause 36 ports — which handle roughly half of the goods shipped into and out of the U.S. — to shutter operations.
ILA confirmed over the weekend that its members would hit the picket lines at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. In a Monday update, the union continued to blame the United States Maritime Alliance, which represents the ports, for continuing to “to block the path” towards an agreement before the contract deadline.

“The Ocean Carriers represented by USMX want to enjoy rich billion-dollar profits that they are making in 2024, while they offer ILA Longshore Workers an unacceptable wage package that we reject,” ILA said in a prepared statement. “ILA longshore workers deserve to be compensated for the important work they do keeping American commerce moving and growing.”

ILA also accused the shippers of “killing their customers” with sizeable price increases for full containers over recent weeks. The union said that this will result increased costs for American consumers.

The Associated Press reached out to a USMX spokesperson for comment.
If drawn out, the strike would led would force businesses to pay shippers for delays and cause some goods to arrive late for peak holiday shopping season — potentially impacting delivery of anything from toys or artificial Christmas trees, to cars, coffee and vegetables. Americans could also face higher prices as retailers feel the supply squeeze.

ILA members are demanding higher wages and a total ban on the automation of cranes, gates and container-moving trucks used in the loading or unloading of freight.
The coming strike by the ILA workers will be the first by the union since 1977.
If a strike were deemed a danger to U.S. economic health, President Joe Biden could, under the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, seek a court order for an 80-day cooling-off period. This would suspend the strike.
All eyes are on what, if any, action the adminstration might take — particularly just weeks ahead of a tight presidential election. But Biden has signaled that he will not exercise this power.
During an exchange with reporters on Sunday, Biden said “no” when asked if he planned to intervene in the potential work stoppage.

“Because it’s collective bargaining, I don’t believe in Taft-Hartley,” Biden said referring to a 1947 law that allows the president to intervene in labor disputes that threaten the nation’s health or safety.

 

[Curzon Dax-sama]

This. If the docks and unions want to stay in buisness the shipping companies need to be happy. The spice must flow. Or else I guess they'll go to another port that isn't lame and gay. And then everything they striked for was for nothing, they lost their customers and are broke.

Well, in this instance, it's not that easy. Logistics can shift very fast, but not in this case. Some contracts with the ports and shipping companies are locked in for a long time, we're talking about years; ships are very large, slow moving pieces of very expensive gear after all that a company has to slowly pay off. You don't book a 10k or 15k TEU freighter from Rotterdam to New Orleans once; you book that for as long and often as you possibly can to lower cost of your own operations, your goal is to do as much work with as little as possible. That is one of the reasons why these ships get bigger and bigger and bigger, lol. The largest ones haul >20k TEU in one go. These things are bigger than nuclear aircraft carriers.

If the strikers are smart, they know this, too. I think they do, absolutely. And that means they really mean it: they're willing to fuck over everyone for better pay. I mean, really, I work in logistics, I'm broadly speaking one of them, just at a different station in the chain. But I hate what they're trying to do, because one part of my job is to keep potential damage to a minimum. This strike will make my job much harder, and I'm sitting in Europe.

 

[Jump]

America actually exports more food than imports

Exactly. The only people who will get really fucked with food inflation is the europoors. And I think everyone here agrees its good to see those faggots suffer.

Skyrocketing energy costs and war in the Europe, problems with China, and now labor problems at the ports. Its all moving the math just a bit more in favor of re-shoring industry out of the EU and Asia. If this strike goes on for even a week its going to take months to unfuck.

It doesn't matter how cheap your fonkopop or how good your VW is. If you can't get it unloaded at the ports it might as well be on the moon. It seems people like Welper are to short sighted to see that. They are all to happy serving their corporate masters.

You talk profit when I'm talking the lives of over 300 million people.

I know you realllly want that new iPhone 16+ or what ever.. but calm down. No one is going to die.

Not who your replying to but this made me kek.
>You are a union communist.
>You just care about money, it's always about fucking money.
Are you a capitalist or not?
I work for money. I like money. And the less hard I have to work the better. I wouldn't get out of bed for fucking 80k, and neither should those guys.

I'm not in a union but thankfully I only work in states with strong prevailing wage laws. So when union rates goes up, so do mine. I love working on sites that have UNION welders around. The non-union type seem very butthurt

 

[FamicomGorby]

Perhaps it's time for the shippers to offer a better deal.

---

Addressing an earlier point, this is what happens when a group of workers that nobody cares about tries to strike:

Medieval dinner show actors strike. It was unsuccessful.

'Member when youtubers tried to form a union?

Banning all automation is retarded and no one will ever agree to it. Since the West Coast won't strike this time I wonder how close to 2020 supply chain issues we'll get shutting down the East Coast ports.

My guess is Biden fucks over the unions despite him ostensibly being their guy since a strike would probably buttfuck the economy beyond the Dem's ability to gaslight retards into thinking everything is fine. Though Biden has apparently been trying his best to sneak diss Kamala recently so maybe he will just let it happen to get back at the Dems for refusing to let him be a corpse president for the next 10,000 years.

 

[Curzon Dax-sama]

No one is going to die.

No, but people elsewhere will loose their jobs over this. And thanks to just in time logistics, this can happen fast in manufacturing. You think in finished goods, like cars or smartphones that are affected by this. Well, I think in halfware and pre-product. Electronics that go into the cars and smartphones, for instance. Shit that's made in Taiwan and shipped to a place in Alabama. Or some chemicals that are cooked in Leverkusen and end up in some synthetic rubber mill in Indiana.

Sometimes, some assholes on the internet just want to watch some place in the world burn for no good reason at all. And that's coming from me, who hates niggers.

 

[WelperHelper99]

Well, in this instance, it's not that easy. Logistics can shift very fast, but not in this case. Some contracts with the ports and shipping companies are locked in for a long time, we're talking about years; ships are very large, slow moving pieces of very expensive gear after all that a company has to slowly pay off. You don't book a 10k or 15k TEU freighter from Rotterdam to New Orleans once; you book that for as long and often as you possibly can to lower cost of your own operations, your goal is to do as much work with as little as possible. That is one of the reasons why these ships get bigger and bigger and bigger, lol. The largest ones haul >20k TEU in one go. These things are bigger than nuclear aircraft carriers.

If the strikers are smart, they know this, too. I think they do, absolutely. And that means they really mean it: they're willing to fuck over everyone for better pay. I mean, really, I work in logistics, I'm broadly speaking one of them, just at a different station in the chain. But I hate what they're trying to do, because one part of my job is to keep potential damage to a minimum. This strike will make my job much harder, and I'm sitting in Europe.

So literally the ships are locked into their ports via contracts... And the pool- I mean ports are closed. There's going to be a lot of cargo just sitting there for weeks, months maybe. Some it going bad. Chemicals, food, raw materials. They can't even go to different ports to offload, they're stuck. All for a few bucks.

know you realllly want that new iPhone 16+ or what ever.. but calm down. No one is going to die.

Not who your repling to but this made me kek.
>You are a union communist.
>You just care about money, it's always about fucking money.
Are you a capitalist or not?
I work for money. I like money. And the less hard I have to work the better. I woulnd't get out of bed for fucking 80k, and neither should those guys.

I'm not in a union but thankfully I only work in states with strong prevailing wage laws. So when union rates goes up, so do mine. I love working on sites that have UNION welders around. The non-union type seem very butthurt

There are better things in the world than screwing your country over for scraps of cash. Millions will suffer to benefit a few thousand. Fuck those guys.

 

[Toji Suzuhara]

There are better things in the world than screwing your country over for scraps of cash. Millions will suffer to benefit a few thousand. Fuck those guys.

Putting the needs of the many over the benefit of the few? That sounds very communist, mister Welper!

 

[Curzon Dax-sama]

So literally the ships are locked into their ports via contracts.

They're locked in long time tables and those usually are locked more or less by contract. It's really more complicated than that. It's why how much a port charges is so damn important for calculating how profitable a ship can be.

There's going to be a lot of cargo just sitting there for weeks, months maybe. Some it going bad. Chemicals, food, raw materials. They can't even go to different ports to offload, they're stuck. All for a few bucks.

This is what happened during the 'rona and the world economy didn't recover from that. Don't trust the media telling you otherwise, we were on the brink, very close to global Mad Max. All we did was paper over the holes and gaslit ourselves that we're gonna make it. This is why I really don't get the people who're like "those poor workers stick it to the big megacorps".

 

[FieldPiece]

Perhaps it's time for the shippers to offer a better deal.

---

Addressing an earlier point, this is what happens when a group of workers that nobody cares about tries to strike:

Medieval dinner show actors strike. It was unsuccessful.

I have more respect for medieval times workers than dock workers. Medieval times workers entertain people doing a very niche job that is in some ways pretty dangerous (no matter how rehearsed jousting or anything involving horses is dangerous). Dock workers are glorified warehouse employees who think they're special because instead of taking cargo containers out of trucks they take them off boats..

 

[WelperHelper99]

Putting the needs of the many over the benefit of the few? That sounds very communist, mister Welper!

When it comes to clogging the ports over literal nothing, I don't care how it sounds. A country is more important than some greedy fucks.

They're locked in long time tables and those usually are locked more or less by contract. It's really more complicated than that. It's why how much a port charges is so damn important for calculating how profitable a ship can be.

I see. That is depressing given the current situation.

This is what happened during the 'rona and the world economy didn't recover from that. Don't trust the media telling you otherwise, we were on the brink, very close to global Mad Max. All we did was paper over the holes and gaslit ourselves that we're gonna make it. This is why I really don't get the people who're like "those poor workers stick it to the big megacorps".

It's insane the people in this thread. Things have gotten horrible on the material side of things. We lost so much during covid and we are risking it again over green slips of paper. Insanity.

 

[LaxerBRO]

I think they do, absolutely. And that means they really mean it: they're willing to fuck over everyone for better pay. I mean, really, I work in logistics, I'm broadly speaking one of them, just at a different station in the chain. But I hate what they're trying to do, because one part of my job is to keep potential damage to a minimum. This strike will make my job much harder, and I'm sitting in Europe.

What's Europes situations with empty intermodal containers and truck chassis?

From what I have learned, logistics is kind of like the circulatory system. In this case, the empty container are important because if you need them to pack the European exports in. This even affects truck chassis as if they are in limited supply, it's difficult to load and unload containers if they are full or not.

 

[Curzon Dax-sama]

I see. That is depressing given the current situation.

If was in the management of the companies that owns the ports, I'd say fuck it, we automate as fast as possible and then fire the whole lot. Ports, airports, railway yards, large scale trucking stations - it's all too important to leave it in the hands of powergaming retards that take out their grievances with HR on the entire economy. It has to stop. Because this shit CAN contribute to a cascading failure scenario. And at the end of that it reads "trucks stopped coming last week, niggers and spics have burned down downtown, they're coming, they're coming..."

@LaxerBRO ,

Well, containers are very seldom empty. I mean, physically yes, but in the paperwork containers are always supposed to be packed to capacity, because you can't really leave money on the table. A half full container means you're wasting a lot of money. Sometimes you can't really avoid it, with goods often being the way they are or the contract is just weird that you have something lik 102 full containers of a ware and then a third or half full one. If you can, you load other shit there too, splitting capacity between different contracts, which makes the paper work more complicated and all that. It helps if all of that stuff goes to the same place, but that you cannot always know in before hand when you plan something like this.

As for trucks - more limited than containers, actually. And one truck can usually only get one container moving. I think you can see the bottleneck emerging. In Germany, we're already 80,000 truckers short, with more retiring in future. By 2030 I think we'll be a hundred thousand short of what the entire economy would need to function properly. PEOPLE ARE NOT AWARE OF THIS! THEY DON'T KNOW. IF YOU TELL THEM THEY CAN'T COMPREHEND HOW FUCKED EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE. I mean, you can automate this, and the technology base for that moves quickly, but the regulators and paper pushers don't. If they government assholes don't wake up in a timely fashion, things will become either much more expensive or simply disappear from the shelves. And we're not talking about luxury consumer items only. Nope, this will also be medicine and food stuff, fuel and raw materials for the factories. It's nightmare fuel.

Edit2: Yeah, the strikers are retarded. They SHOULD know from the 'rona how bad things were and still are, how the supply chain issue directly fed into the exorbitant rise in living cost. And now these retards try to summon that again. I don't know man, all this will accomplish is that everything will become much more expensive if this drags on, and it will STAY much more expensive, for everyone. What will their increased wage be able to buy in 12 months? Considerably less. It's just stupid and tiresome. You don't fuck with logistics, it will fuck you right back.

 

[LaxerBRO]

Well, containers are very seldom empty. I mean, physically yes, but in the paperwork containers are always supposed to be packed to capacity,

Sorry but I only know a little about the field. Here is what I was trying to convey:

Operational Supply Chain

• Container is loaded onto vessel in US.
• Container arrives in Europe
• Container is unloaded from the ship,
• Trucker pick container up.
• Container is emptied by factory workers.
• Trucker picks now empty container up.
• Empty container is delivered to European shipper for packing.
• Container is loaded onto vessel in Europe.
• Container arrives in US.
  • CYCLE repeats.

Supply Chain Disruption

• Container with exports for Europe cannot be returned to port nor load vessel.
• Container sits at warehouse.
• Europe does not get exported goods.
• As a result of not getting US goods, European factories can't load what they plan to export into containers.
• On both coasts, containers that need to be sent to Europe and manufactured goods for export pile up.

Supply chain gets fucked harder.

---

I'd say fuck it, we automate as fast as possible and then fire the whole lot.

I looked up US ports that were automated and it seems that the West coast of the US have a couple with one being TraPac.

The only problem...

The TraPac terminal’s transformation from diesel-powered material handling equipment to automated grid-electric with hybrid machines was accomplished through a multi-stage project, allowing the terminal to keep operating on schedule throughout the transition.

The first phase, which began in 2012, saw the installation of the first auto-strads and the first four automated stacking crane blocks. This was followed between 2014 and 2018 by 11 more crane blocks and an increase in the auto-strad fleet.

It took six years to get one port terminal fully operational. The problem is that it takes so long to automate a terminal that trying to weather a strike while automating will decimate the US economy.

 

[FieldPiece]

What's Europes situations with empty intermodal containers and truck chassis?

From what I have learned, logistics is kind of like the circulatory system. In this case, the empty container are important because if you need them to pack the European exports in. This even affects truck chassis as if they are in limited supply, it's difficult to load and unload containers if they are full or not.

One thing I've learned working in a job where logistics is very important (granted for a very small amount of time) is that even with non-perishable items knowledge perishes over time. You took a measurement yesterday and still remember it the next. Next day because you've been waiting on something to be delivered you've forgotten it and need to take 30 minutes getting all the measurements again to be sure. It's little things but it adds up. Yes you could write shit down but humans are dumb and assume things will all go according to plan. If you work in a job where this kind of thing happens I recommend writing shit down when people say it with time and approximate date. Yes they will think you're a nerdy faggot autismo (you probably are) but they will thank you.

 

[Curzon Dax-sama]

Sorry but I only know a little about the field. Here is what I was trying to convey:

Operational Supply Chain

• Container is loaded onto vessel in US.
• Container arrives in Europe
• Container is unloaded from the ship,
• Trucker pick container up.
• Container is emptied by factory workers.
• Trucker picks now empty container up.
• Empty container is delivered to European shipper for packing.
• Container is loaded onto vessel in Europe.
• Container arrives in US.
  • CYCLE repeats.

Supply Chain Disruption

• Container with exports for Europe cannot be returned to port nor load vessel.
• Container sits at warehouse.
• Europe does not get exported goods.
• As a result of not getting US goods, European factories can't load what they plan to export into containers.
• On both coasts, containers that need to be sent to Europe and manufactured goods for export pile up.

Supply chain gets fucked harder.

That is broadly it, details vary. Some ports have access to railways which greatly speed up unloading/loading and distro. Thing is, most factories don't have elaborate storage for their inputs AND outputs anymore. The assumption always is: the container is also the storage. Companies outsourcing shit they rather shouldn't? Yeah, perish the thought...

So, after a couple of days, in some instances even after three shifts, they run dry, with no room to really store the produce. Modern factories in that situation exist in an odd quantum-state then: empty and full at the same time. And that also means: management shuts the plan down. For some factories that's not a huge deal, but if you run for instance large chemical plants or even a paper mill, you actually risk damaging the machinery if you shut everything down, let it cool (because there's a lot of process heat involved) and then later you turn the machines back on. You CAN ruin assembly lines with this fuckery, if not done properly. So, this shit already goes beyond supply chains.

 

[The best and greatest]

This. If the docks and unions want to stay in buisness the shipping companies need to be happy. The spice must flow. Or else I guess they'll go to another port that isn't lame and gay. And then everything they striked for was for nothing, they lost their customers and are broke.

You are no more entitled to spice than laborers are entitled to better wages. Don't like it? Mine your own spice.

 

[Snack Cracker]

Medicine and fruit. I wouldn’t be all that shocked if Joe sells the pharmaceutical base fully to China in the next month.

Rate dumb if late, but please please stock up on medication if you’re reliant on it for the rest of your life.
Put it on autofill and pick it up every single mo th whether you need it or not.

They could jack a simple albuterol inhaler up to $100 easily if they wanted to.

 

[LaxerBRO]

This. If the docks and unions want to stay in buisness the shipping companies need to be happy. The spice must flow. Or else I guess they'll go to another port that isn't lame and gay. And then everything they striked for was for nothing, they lost their customers and are broke.

There are no ports that can handle the volume of cargo the US needs.

 

[Quijibo69]

I'm buying canned goods tomorrow. Just thinking.

 

[Fruttasecca]

The only thing unions accomplished was off shoring all the blue collar jobs to Chinks and Slavs, if you support unions you are a fucking retard or intentionally malicious

 

[Sargon's wife's son]

The unions are a fucking useless middle manager who fucks up everything they interface with, get paid to do so, and demand to be recognized as a good. The fuck are they gonna do to China? "Hey Mr. Han, this steel isn't properly rated, you lied and sold me bad goods." The fuck is the union gonna do, besides lodge a complaint and get bribed by the politicians.

I joined the carpenters union for three months and then I got a letter saying hey we're having an LGBT BBQ barbecue and then I immediately left the union and told them I'm not giving dues to a organization that literally has no interest in protecting my wages and is more interested in man on man ****.

Also used to know the guy who ran the Philadelphia carpenters union he was literally a gangster old school Italian mobster people don't realise something but a lot of the unions still have ties to organised crime especially in the more corrupt cities like Detroit Philadelphia hell when we were doing government contract work in New York we would definitely not bribing the Police Department to shut down the road so we can move material.

Half the unions in this country are useless and have more interest in screwing over the members with mass uncontrolled immigration by only donating to the Democrats rather than finding pro union Republicans to endorse they do exist they just need funding to get through the primary process.