The China Mail - New York area port prepares for possible US strike disruption

Tens of thousands of port workers stand poised to walk off the job in a stoppage that would also affect myriad other industries from trucking to retail to rail just weeks before the 2024 presidential election.

In a letter to customers and partners, Bethann Rooney, port director for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said users should pick up their import cargo before the September 30 expiration of a contract affecting ports in the Eastern and Gulf Coasts.

"Although we remain hopeful that an agreement will be reached ... preparations are underway for a potential strike effective 12 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 1," Rooney said.

She told customers that "there will be no opportunities to deliver any cargo once a strike begins."

Importers and logistics companies in recent days have warned of economic hardship from the possible stoppage, which appears more likely amid the lack of meaningful negotiations in recent weeks between the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX).

A strike would affect other large US ports, including Boston, Philadelphia, Charleston, Savannah, Tampa and New Orleans.

"We remain prepared to bargain at any time, but both sides must come to the table if we are going to reach a deal, and there is no indication that the ILA is interested in negotiating at this time," USXM said Monday in a statement.

The ILA has disputed the business group's characterization of the stalemate as the result of a "misleading publicly campaign."

While the two sides have communicated "multiple times" in recent weeks, the deadlock is because the business group continues to offer the ILA "an unacceptable wage increase package," said an ILA media statement.

"The blame for a coast wide strike in a week that will shut down all ports on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts falls squarely on the shoulders of USMX," said ILA president Harold Daggett.

A.Zhang--ThChM