There are more than a few challenges awaiting President-elect Donald Trump when he’s officially inaugurated on Jan. 20, one of which is a potential dockworker strike that could start just a few days before he takes office. And if that happens, it could be extremely costly for the country. Nobody said being the commander-in-chief would be easy, right? And that’s why we need Trump. A weakling like President Joe Biden isn’t going to solve any problem facing the nation, especially an economic one.
An article published by The Daily Caller, “The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), which represents 47,000 workers, is planning to strike on Jan. 15 after a short three-day strike in October, where the union secured a 62% pay raise over six years from United States Maritime Alliance (USMX). However, negotiations concerning port automation with shipping companies continue to stall, and industry giant Maersk said there have been no new developments, according to Bloomberg Tuesday.”
“The conditional agreement on wages is set to expire on January 15. If no agreement is reached by that date, a coast-wide strike on Jan. 16 is possible. However, the negotiations have had no new developments since our last communication,” Maersk explained Tuesday in a customer advisory. “Considering the status, we strongly encourage our customers to pick up their laden containers and return empty containers at U.S. East and Gulf Coast ports before January 15. This proactive measure will help mitigate any potential disruptions at the terminals.”
The last strike took place in October and only lasted three days. However, the estimated cost for the strike was, and I hope you’re sitting down, a total of $5 billion per day. Senior research fellow Brent Sadler, who is with the Heritage Foundation, spoke with the Daily Caller and said that a strike would be devastating for small businesses, though the effects might not show up right off the bat.
“If you’re a small company and you’re waiting for bulk supply and materials to arrive in for your small or medium sized factory, you might have an economic impact that’s pretty severe, and I don’t think that’s good for anyone,” Sadler said to the outlet.
The strike is likely to happen, according to Sadler, and would certainly create backlogs on east coast ports. Negotiations between the ILA and shipping companies are set to resume Jan. 7, according to FreightWaves.
“What you very likely will see, at least in the East Coast ports, is a backlog of ships at anchor. A week backlog is going to take you probably two or three weeks clear,” Sadler went on to say to the DCNF. “So the shippers will then start to redirect their ships to other ports, like the West Coast, adding more economic cost.”
According to the ILA, the increasing use of automation is going to destroy jobs and put Americans out of work. And it seems the president-elect is in agreement.
“There has been a lot of discussion having to do with ‘automation on United States docks,” President Trump said in a post on Truth Social Dec. 12. “I’ve studied automation and know just about everything there is to know about it. The amount of money saved is nowhere near the distress, hurt and harm it causes for American Workers, in this case, our Longshoremen. Foreign companies have made a fortune in the U.S. by giving them access to our markets. They shouldn’t be looking for every last penny knowing how many families are hurt.”
A 2021 International Transportation Forum study found no compelling relationship between port automation and efficiency. The U.S. Government Accountability Office, while finding some increase in efficiency, also found “mixed effects on the workforce, security, and performance,” according to a March 2024 study. Chinese companies like China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) are part of the USMX, allowing them to hold leverage over negotiations to a degree. Experts previously told the DCNF that China’s potential involvement could present a national security risk.
Additionally, mysterious communications devices were found on cranes made by Chinese mega-manufacturer ZMPC, according to a congressional investigation in March. Beijing dismissed the U.S.’ concerns as “paranoia.” Michael Watson, research director at the Capital Research Center, told the DCNF that unions, including the ILA, are playing around Trump’s populism to get better deals.
Watson told the Daily Caller that most folks would probably think that a GOP administration would align themselves with independent work and shun labor unions, but that’s not necessarily the case with Trump. In fact, he said, some of the union bosses are growing smarter in how they engage with populist Republicans.
Other unions have appeared to soften on Trump or outright voice support, such as the New York City Police Benevolent Association and the National Border Patrol Council. Most notably, The International Brotherhood of Teamsters declined to endorse a candidate in 2024 after polls showed the rank-and-file mostly supported him despite the union having a long history of Democratic endorsements.
One solution to sort of curtail a strike would be for Trump to take a similar course of action to that of Margaret Thatcher, the Daily Caller said. Thatcher, who served as the Prime Minister in the UK and initially conceded to a number of the coal mining unions demands, however, she smartly stockpiled coal to help offset the negative impacts of future strikes.
“They may have to give the Longshoremen more than they would like to give so that they can then prepare for the next and that’s assuming that they aren’t Biden-style stooges for the longshoremen, which I don’t know,” Watson said to the DCNF. “The thing about Trump, because he’s so non-ideological as a figure, is that you can never be certain.”
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