Jacksonville has always enjoyed a sizeable economic benefit from its port but that will be threatened if longshoremen go on strike Oct. 1.
The local port had 147 vessels visit last month alone, moving more than a million tons of cargo, including 42,843 cars.
A strike would shut down 36 ports that handle roughly half the nations’ cargo from ships.
Greedy union bosses want more money – even though they labeled the last contract in 2018 as “the greatest in history.”
According to ABC News, a 2019-2020 report by the Waterfront Commission, which oversees New York Harbor, said about a third of the longshoremen based there made $200,000 or more. The union is asking for a 77 percent pay increase.
But wages are not the only issue this year.
Like 19th century Luddites, the longshoremen want to stop automation. Ports, like many other businesses, have found that automation increases productivity and profits.
Increased productivity is better for everyone, including workers.
Lame-duck President Biden already has said he will not stop a strike, which he has the authority to do under the Taft-hartley Act.
The damage to the nation’s economy that the Biden-Harris administration already has done apparently is not enough.
The New York Times said a port strike “could shake the economy.”
Deliveries during the back-to-school period and following holiday season could be affected by a prolonged strike.
U.S. ports already load and unload cargo slower than those in Asia and Europe and without greater automation could fall even further behind.
