FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Dozens of union port workers set up tents and held their signs outside the entrance of Port Everglades on Tuesday, joining in on a multi-state protest.
"If they're here three months, six months, if it takes a year, we're not backing down," Johnnie Dixon, the president of the International Longshoremen's Association of the local 1526 branch, said.
Workers on strike said they arrived before the sun came up, demanding ports to stop using automated equipment, and for the United States Maritime Alliance to pay higher salaries.
"How long can we continue to follow this trend and think that we're going to be able to afford the rents," Dixon said. "If you look at our new hires today they can't even afford to get an apartment right here in their own city."
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Tens of thousands of port workers are on strike up and down the East Coast and the Gulf Coast.
"Just as quick as we get a fair contract, ships' cargo starts moving, members going back to work," Dixon said.
According to the Port Everglades website, they're responsible for nearly half of all the refrigerated produce that is imported into Florida, including fruits from Central and South America.
"That's going to cause shortages and ultimately price increases," Steven Carnovale, an associate professor of supply chain management at Florida Atlantic University, said.
He said home improvement supplies and car parts could all be impacted.
Port Everglades released the following statement on the strike:
"For clarification, the negotiations between the ILA and USMX does not affect the majority of activity taking place at Port Everglades, such as the movement of petroleum products, aggregate materials and cement, and our cruise activity. It would affect select containerized cargo.
Port Everglades has a strong relationship with both labor and our marine terminal operators that handle containerized cargo. Multiple marine terminal operators employ ILA labor and would be impacted, while other terminals employ labor from other unions and independent workers and are expected to continue moving cargo during this period. We hope the parties can come to a resolution quickly so all containerized cargo operations can return to business as usual."
"How long do you feel it would take for us to see the impacts on the shelves?" WPTV reporter Joel Lopez asked Carnovale.
"The most dire impact I think would be in the multiple weeks, three to four weeks," Carnovale said. "Certainly, there's the economic cost of it all, there's product spoiling that comes to the port but can't get moved."
He worries if East Coast ports stay closed, all of the volume will be routed to already busy ports, taxing those locations.
That may then cause ports to utilize more automated machines, which are being protested against, to help meet the demand.
"If ports shut down, they have to reroute, that adds time, that adds money, that adds spoilage on products," Carnovale said.
He said this could impact stores that rely on imported produce such as Walmart.
WPTV reached out to Walmart on the matter, who released the following statement:
"We prepare for unforeseen disruptions in our supply chain and maintain additional sources of supply to ensure we have key products available for our customers when and how they want them."
Carnovale said most companies have extra supplies in stock, but perishables have a short shelf life that may be compromised if they need to be rerouted through different ports.
"I think the benefit that we've got is a majority of consumables as far as it relates to food, things like cereal, grains, meats, breads and so on, most of that is produced domestically, so I think it's unlikely there will be shortages in many of those products," Carnovale said.
WPTV also reached out to the National Retail Federation which provided the following statement:
"Over the past nine months NRF has continuously advocated for the International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance to negotiate and reach a new master contract agreement before the existing one expired. With a strike now in place at all East Coast and Gulf Coast ports, NRF is urging President Biden to intervene and use all necessary tools, including the Taft-Hartley Act, to immediately resume the flow of cargo at these essential ports and get the negotiating parties back to the table. This is a critical time for retailers and other businesses ahead of the holiday season. The longer this disruption lasts, the more harm it will cause to the economy and the millions of businesses, workers and consumers who rely on the seamless flow of goods, both imports and exports, through the East Coast and Gulf Coast ports."
- NRF Vice President of Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold
