Dockworker strike brings chaos to dozens of US ports

A strike by the International Longshoremen's Association, the union that represents 85,000 dockworkers, could shut down key port facilities in Newark and Elizabeth.
A strike by the International Longshoremen's Association, the union that represents 85,000 dockworkers, could shut down key port facilities in Newark and Elizabeth.

Dockworker strike brings chaos to dozens of US ports

Traffic at East and Gulf Coast ports is set to plummet thanks to an overnight strike by the International Longshoremen’s Association. The union's 45,000 port workers launched a massive strike at midnight, halting operations at dozens of ports stretching from Maine to Texas.

The port workers have been demanding better pay and benefits and guarantees that automated machinery won’t replace their jobs. The ILA warned that if no agreement were reached with the US Maritime Alliance, the group representing employers, its members would walk off the job at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday.

The strike will impact nearly half of all US sea-borne imports and as much as 68% of containerized exports — everything from seafood, electronics, and pharmaceuticals, to cars and parts, and even some fruits.

Joe Biden could use the Taft-Hartley Act to intervene in the labor dispute. “Invoking the act might prove enticing to protect national and economic security,” says Jeremy Slater, a trade and supply chains expert at Eurasia Group. But Biden is unlikely to do so in this case, Slater says, “because it essentially undercuts labor rights by forcing negotiations and prohibiting collective striking – not great optics for a pro-labor administration.”

“The knock-on effects from a disruption would compound with every day offline, with a two-week strike necessitating recovery efforts into 2025 by some estimates,” Slater warns.

More from GZERO Media

People gather ahead of a march to the parliament in protest of the Treaty Principles Bill, in Wellington, New Zealand, November 19, 2024.
REUTERS/Lucy Craymer

Over the past few days you might have seen that viral clip of New Zealand lawmakers interrupting a legislative session with a haka -- the foot-stamping, tongue-wagging, eyes-bulging, loud-chanting ceremonial dance of the nation’s indigenous Maori communities.

FILE PHOTO: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump greet each other at a campaign event sponsored by conservative group Turning Point USA, in Duluth, Georgia, U.S., October 23, 2024.
REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo/File Photo

With world leaders descending upon Brazil this week for the annual G20 summit, the specter of Donald Trump’s return looms all around.

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump holds a copy of the Wall Street Journal while speaking at a Trump for President campaign rally at the Jacksonsville Landing in Jacksonville, Florida.
REUTERS

Donald Trump won the White House on a promise to turn around the US economy. Now, he’s struggling to appoint a lieutenant to tackle the job.

A ragpicker searches for garbage as he walks through railway tracks on a smoggy morning in New Delhi, India on November 4, 2023.

(Photo by Kabir Jhangiani/NurPhoto)

50: Particulate matter in the air over Delhi reached 50 times the safe level on Monday, causing the Indian government to close schools, halt construction, and bar certain trucks from entering the capital.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin poses with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr during a courtesy call at the Malacanang Palace in Manila, Philippines, November 18, 2024.
Gerard Carreon/Pool via REUTERS

Manila’s top defense official Gilberto Teodoro signed a treaty with the US on Monday that will allow the Philippines to access more closely-held military intelligence and purchase more advanced technology to defend itself from China.

- YouTube

Ian Bremmer's Quick Take: From China to Canada, the world is gearing up for significant strategic shifts under Donald Trump's administration. According to Ian Bremmer, countries are eager to avoid crosswires with the US. In this Quick Take, Ian explains how these geopolitical moves are unfolding.

United States President Joe Biden, right, and US President-elect Donald Trump during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, November 13, 2024.
Reuters

President-elect Donald Trump, who’s expressed opposition to continued US aid to Kyiv, wants to quickly end the war in Ukraine and could pump the brakes on this policy shift once in office.

- YouTube

On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer sits down with Jennifer Sciubba to explore a looming global crisis: population collapse. With fertility rates below replacement levels in two-thirds of the world, what does this mean for the future of work, healthcare, and retirement systems? In the US, Vice President-Elect JD Vance and Elon Musk are already sounding the alarm, the latter saying it's “a much bigger risk” to civilization than global warming. Can governments do anything to stop it?

Senegal's Presidential Bassirou Diomaye Faye casts his ballot during the early legislative election, at a polling station in Ndiaganiao, Mbour, Senegal on Nov. 17, 2024.

Abdou Karim Ndoye/Senegal's Presidency/Handout via Reuters

President Bassirou Diomaye Faye called the snap vote eight months after taking office, seeking a majority mandate for economic reforms as the country grapples with high inflation and widespread unemployment.