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“No automation means no automation,” says the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), the union representing 85,000 dock and maritime workers.ILA officials reached a tentative wage agreement with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) on Oct. 3. This move effectively suspended the three-day job action and extended the existing Master Contract until Jan. 15. The new deal allows both sides about 100 days to negotiate a new agreement, with automation being the primary sticking point.While ILA confirmed that USMX agreed to raise pay for thousands of port workers, they are now focusing their discussions on using technology to complete tasks with less...

This strike isn’t over. It’s just delayed until after the election, so it doesn’t hurt the Democratic party at the polls. We have been told many things about the longshoremen’s strike over the past week. Most of the reporting has been in half-truths, at best – possibly because the press doesn’t know any better (the operations of our seaports are an admittedly obscure area of specialization), or possibly because the press doesn’t want to share information so damning to the side they instinctively favor. Here are just a few of the misleading statements thrown at us in the past week:...

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the leading candidate for his state’s Senate seat, said he would advise Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike Iranian ballistic missile factories. In an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” Schiff said such a response would be “proportionate” after Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles last week aimed at Israel. “If I were advising the Prime Minister of Israel, I would say, go after those ballistic missile factories storage areas,” Schiff said. “That would be proportionate, in my view,” Schiff continued. “But it would also help degrade Iran’s capacity.”

On Friday’s “CNN Newsroom,” White House National Economic Adviser Lael Brainard responded to a question on if International Longshoremen’s Association President Harold Daggett’s large salary came up during negotiations over the port strike where higher wages were demanded by stating that “the president thought it was very important to get the two parties back together, to get the collective bargaining process back on track, to get the ports re-opened. He pushed really hard for that and he got it done.” Host Jim Acosta asked, “Lael, Daggett is facing criticism for giving — for some of these demands of his, companies...

On Friday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” acting Labor Secretary Julie Su responded to International Longshoremen’s Association President Harold Daggett’s threat to “cripple” the economy by stating that “anyone who’s been a part of these things knows that when negotiations are going on, they can get heated, people can say a bunch of things.” And “longshoremen play a very critical role in our economy, and this negotiation helped to highlight that.” Co-host Carl Quintanilla asked, “There was this video of Harold Daggett mentioning that he would — ‘I will cripple you‘ was the phrase he used trying to...

HOUSTON — The union for 45,000 United States dockworkers agreed to suspend their strike until Jan. 15 to provide time to negotiate a new contract, according to an Associated Press source. U.S. ports from Maine to Texas shut down Tuesday when the union representing about 45,000 dockworkers went on strike for the first time since 1977. The strike began at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday and halted operations at ports from Brownsville to Boston. The International Longshoremen’s Association wants significantly higher wages and a total ban on the automation of cranes, gates and container-moving trucks used in the loading or unloading of...

Shoppers are ‘panic buying’ items, including toilet paper, after 45,000 East Coast port workers launched a strike on Tuesday. A woman named Shayna Turbovsky in Fort Worth, Texas, went to the store to get meat, rice, beans, bananas, and toilet paper when a coworker warned her about shortages and rising prices, USA Today reported on Wednesday. “I don’t know how bad it’s going to get, but the south east just got smacked by a hurricane and now the supply chain is going to be impacted through this strike…I would rather be overprepared than scared,” she said in a social media...

Key Points: As the East&Gulf coast ports strike hits day three on Thursday, there are multiple signs of supply chain stress building. Thousands of shipping containers were potentially dumped at the wrong ports as ocean carriers scrambled to find alternate options for cargo, and increased tracking of diverted vessels is a direct challenge to an ILA-union threat to stop unloading at other ports. Surcharges imposed by shipping giants are starting to mount, and the need to use inland transportation options like trucking and rail for diverted cargo are adding to costs. A major grocery chain CEO tells CNBC that while...

The longshoremen strike that closed ports on the East and Gulf Coasts on Tuesday has left wine importers scrambling to secure their European shipments ahead of the busy holiday season. Consumers will not see immediate shortages on store shelves or restaurant wine lists, but as Thanksgiving approaches, many may have to find substitutes for their favorite Champagnes or Beaujolais. For importers and others in the trade, the strike by members of the International Longshoremen’s Association union, who are seeking increased wages, comes as the wine industry struggles with lagging sales. Consumption of wine diminished over the last year, and studies...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Harris-Walz Surrogate Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) argued that there will be fewer strikes if 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris is elected and that the head of the dockworkers union is “a Trump guy” who might want to cripple the economy for political purposes.

Growing lines of container ships continued to line up outside major U.S. ports on Thursday as the biggest dockworker strike in nearly 50 years entered its third day. The choke points are threatening shortages of everything from bananas to auto parts and are anticipated to grow in coming days if no resolution is forthcoming. Reuters reports no negotiations were scheduled between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and employers, but the port owners, under pressure from the White House to hike their pay offer to land a deal, signaled they were open to new talks.

Unionized dockworkers at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports began a strike Monday that will affect the flow of goods through ports that handle about half of seaborne trade to the U.S. and could have an impact on food prices. Ports affected by the International Longshoremen’s Association strike are key hubs for food imports from places like South America and Central America. For example, about two-thirds of bananas arrive at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released a statement Tuesday saying it doesn’t anticipate food prices will be significantly affected by the port strike...

As of today, the International Longshoreman’s Association (“ILA”) is on strike at 45 ports along America’s eastern and southern shores. It is demanding a huge wage increase and the end of automation. Harold Daggett, the ILA’s president, has gone on record saying, “I will cripple” America. Even assuming the normal posturing in these negotiations, that’s a singularly ugly threat. Although Daggett successfully pushed back against DOJ charges that he’s a member of the mob, that has a “mob-like” feel. The ILA’s demands are simple (emphasis mine):The union is demanding higher wages and a total ban on the automation at ports...

Contract proposals from the International Longshoremen's Association could "lock America back in the Stone Age for another six years," the CEO of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors warned on Tuesday. Appearing on FOX Business, NAW head Eric Hoplin told Maria Bartiromo the union's push to ban automation at gates and for cranes moving containers and unloading cargo is "unrealistic."... "Look around the globe. ...Rotterdam started moving to automation 30 years ago. We're already three decades behind," he said.... "The fact that the president is not intervening is a mistake," Hoplin continued. "So I've joined 200 other trade association CEOs representing...

On Sept. 27, US Rep. Majorie Taylor-Greene warned about the ramifications of a strike in a tweet. Rep. Greene claims, “It’s very important to understand how critical this is given that America is now in a $36 billion dollar food trade deficit for the first time in our nation’s history. Also, the Biden-Harris administration and congressional out-of-control spending have driven inflation so high that many Americans can’t afford quality of life. I think this situation is serious and, depending on whether they strike and how long it lasts, could be a crisis going into the election, holidays, and winter.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Tuesday night local time that it would respond to the Iranian missile attack “in the place and in the time that we determine.” IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari addressed the nation in the immediate aftermath of an Iranian attack, the second since April. Iran reportedly fired 400 missiles, almost all of which were intercepted, with just a few missiles falling in Israel. Israelis across the entire country had been ordered into bomb shelters; shortly after Hagari’s briefing, the Home Front Command said that people could leave their shelters. Hagari said that there had...

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday he did not intend to intervene to prevent a port strike on the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico if dock workers failed to secure a new contract by an Oct. 1 deadline. “It’s collective bargaining. I don’t believe in Taft-Hartley,” he told reporters. Presidents can intervene in labor disputes that threaten national security or safety by imposing an 80-day cooling-off period under the federal Taft-Hartley Act.

Key Points Approximately 50,000 ILA union longshoremen were walking off the job at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports from New England to Texas starting at 12:01 a.m. ET on October 1 after failing to reach an agreement with ports ownership on a new contract, the union’s first strike since 1977. Between 43%-49% of all U.S. imports and billions of dollars in trade monthly move through the U.S East Coast and Gulf ports. The International Longshoreman’s Association, the largest maritime union in North America, rejected an offer from the port management group USMX on Monday that included a wage hike...

Unionized dockworkers at 36 East and Gulf Coast ports went on strike early Tuesday amid an impasse in negotiations over a new contract with a group representing port employers

Which products will become scarce because of the coming longshoremen Strike?