Current:Home > ScamsLongshoremen from Maine to Texas appear likely to go on strike, seaport CEO says -Stellar Financial Insights
Longshoremen from Maine to Texas appear likely to go on strike, seaport CEO says
View
Date:2025-04-18 08:34:15
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — The chief executive over Georgia’s two booming seaports said Tuesday that a strike next week by dockworkers across the U.S. East and Gulf coasts appears likely, though he’s hopeful the resulting shutdown would last only a few days.
“We should probably expect there to be a work stoppage and we shouldn’t get surprised if there is one,” Griff Lynch, CEO of the Georgia Ports Authority, told The Associated Press in an interview. “The question is: How long?”
U.S. ports from Maine to Texas are preparing for a potential shutdown in a week, when the union representing 45,000 dockworkers in that region has threatened to strike starting Oct. 1. That’s when the contract expires between the International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, which represents the ports. Negotiations on a new contract halted in June.
A strike would shut down 36 ports that handle roughly half the nations’ cargo from ships. Lynch oversees two of the busiest in Georgia. The Port of Savannah ranks No. 4 in the U.S. for container cargo that includes retail goods ranging from consumer electronics to frozen chickens. The Port of Brunswick is America’s second-busiest for automobiles.
Lynch said he’s holding out hope that a strike can be averted, though he added: “The stark reality is they are not talking right now.” Represented by the maritime alliance, the Georgia Ports Authority has no direct role in negotiating.
As for how long a strike might last, “no one really knows for sure,” said Lynch, Georgia’s top ports executive since 2016 and a three-decade veteran of the maritime industry. “I would think we should expect four to five days, and hopefully not beyond that.”
Businesses have been preparing for a potential strike for months, importing extra inventory to fill their warehouses. Lynch said that’s one reason container volumes in Savannah increased 13.7% in July and August compared to the same period a year ago.
Georgia dockworkers are putting in extra hours trying to ensure ships get unloaded and return to sea before next Tuesday’s deadline. Truck gates at the Port of Savannah, normally closed on Sundays, will be open throughout this weekend.
At the Georgia Ports Authority’s monthly board meeting Tuesday, Lynch praised the roughly 2,000 union workers responsible for loading and unloading ships in Savannah and Brunswick, saying “they have done great work” ahead of a possible strike. He said the ports would keep operating until the last minute.
“We’re seeing phenomenal productivity out of them right now,” he said. “You wouldn’t know this was going to happen if you hadn’t been told.”
There hasn’t been a national longshoremen’s strike in the U.S. since 1977. Experts say a strike of even a few weeks probably wouldn’t result in any major shortages of retail goods, though it would still cause disruptions as shippers reroute cargo to West Coast ports. Lynch and other experts say every day of a port strike could take up to a week to clear up once union workers return to their jobs.
A prolonged strike would almost certainly hurt the U.S. economy.
The maritime alliance said Monday it has been contacted by the U.S. Labor Department and is open to working with federal mediators. The union’s president, Harold Daggett, said in a statement his members are ready to strike over what he called an unacceptable “low-ball wage package.”
“We’re hopeful that they’ll get it worked out,” said Kent Fountain, the Georgia Ports Authority’s board chairman. “But if not, we’re going to do everything we can to make it as seamless as possible and as easy as it could possibly be on our customers and team members.”
veryGood! (7918)
Related
- Angelina Jolie nearly fainted making Maria Callas movie: 'My body wasn’t strong enough'
- Really impressive Madrid, Sociedad advance in Champions League. Man United again falls in wild loss
- Uzbekistan hosts summit of regional economic alliance
- The Best Gifts For Runners On The Trail, Treadmill & Beyond
- Stamford Road collision sends motorcyclist flying; driver arrested
- Revisiting Bears-Panthers pre-draft trade as teams tangle on 'Thursday Night Football'
- ‘Greed and corruption': Federal jury convicts veteran DEA agents in bribery conspiracy
- Sharks might be ferocious predators, but they're no match for warming oceans, studies say
- Charges tied to China weigh on GM in Q4, but profit and revenue top expectations
- Michigan man gifts bride scratch-off ticket worth $1 million, day after their wedding
Ranking
- Federal court filings allege official committed perjury in lawsuit tied to Louisiana grain terminal
- Citi illegally discriminated against Armenian-Americans, feds say
- Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak hospitalized in Mexico
- Clash between Constitutional and appeals courts raises concerns over rule of law in Turkey
- Rolling Loud 2024: Lineup, how to stream the world's largest hip hop music festival
- Veteran Spanish conservative politician shot in face in Madrid street
- Zac Efron “Devastated” by Death of 17 Again Costar Matthew Perry
- Kenya says it won’t deploy police to fight gangs in Haiti until they receive training and funding
Recommendation
Behind on your annual reading goal? Books under 200 pages to read before 2024 ends
Nashville officers on 'administrative assignment' after Covenant shooter's writings leak
An inside look at Israel's ground assault in Gaza
India, Pakistan border guards trade fire along their frontier in Kashmir; one Indian soldier killed
A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
U.S. childhood vaccination exemptions reach their highest level ever
Man receives the first eye transplant plus a new face. It’s a step toward one day restoring sight
Belmont University student hit in the head by stray bullet in Nashville