The Longshoreman strike is on hold for now and businesses and customers that rely on the goods coming through the ports can breathe a temporary sigh of relief. A deal was struck to go back to work while continuing to negotiate until January 15. Businesses that rely on goods that come through the ports remain hopeful, and worried too, about whether an agreement will be made.
The thought that 46 ports from Maine to Texas would shut down for any length of time was frightening. The head of the International Longshoreman’s Association, Harold Daggett, said “These people don’t know what a strike is. I’ll cripple you. I’ll cripple you.”
The strike began just a month before the hotly contested elections in November. It is not just who will be president that is on the ballot, but which party will control the House and Senate. The fundamental direction the country will take is at stake.
In an already rough economy, a dockworker strike bringing shortages, and ever higher prices, was unwelcome to the Democrat ticket already reeling from blame for a 20% increase in the cost of living under their watch. There is little doubt that there intense pressure behind the scenes from the White House to get back to work.
Leading up to the strike, one of the things worrying those in the car selling and repair business was that delivery of new cars and parts would come to a halt. Alerts went out to fix your car now if you've been holding off because they don’t know if they will have parts if the strike lasts past a month or two from now.
South Shore Press spoke to an employee from a Smithtown car dealership on the condition of anonymity who was very worried about their job, and their colleagues too, if a strike lasted very long. New inventory and car parts would be affected quickly if the work stoppage lasted any length of time.
“A long strike would have driven up the price of cars we already have on the lot and when those were sold, we wouldn’t have any more inventory. When inventory isn’t replaced, and there are no cars to sell, the salespeople can’t make money for their families. When there are no parts, our service department can’t fix cars, and their paycheck is affected," they said.
The dealership employee said they were all worried about the strike because they knew what it was like during COVID-19 when supply chain disruptions affected every part of their business.
“A sales lot that would normally have 300 cars had just fifteen or 20. No one could get chips needed to make cars or parts to fix existing cars. Everyone suffered so much. No one wanted to go back to something like that,” they said.
For now, the strike is averted with an agreement in principle of a 62% pay raise over six years. A ban on automation remains a difficult hurdle and all involved hope the parties will come to a deal before the January 15 deadline. Though car dealerships and repair shops would be adversely affected quickly, many businesses across Suffolk County and the Eastern Seaboard would suffer terrific losses if this is not resolved.