Louisiana’s ports, including the Port of Caddo-Bossier, just south of Shreveport, are bracing for what could be the largest shipping worker strike in decades. As Matt Bloom with Louisiana Public Radio reports, roughly 600 cargo handlers at the Port of New Orleans are set to strike next week, along with workers in Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, Shreveport and other cities along the Gulf coast.
Henry Glover is a lifelong New Orleanian and president of the local international longshoreman’s chapter. He says workers want more protections against automation. “We want to continue to pay taxes within our community to take care of our community, to be able to buy houses, because if they automated, all of that's over with.”
Port NOLA says it has opened weekend operations to help move extra cargo and prevent big supply chain disruptions.
According to an analysis by the American Farm Bureau Federation, nearly $1.5 billion in containerized agricultural goods pass through East and Gulf coast ports each week. The analysis concludes:
“[A] strike would create backlogs of exports, denying farmers access to a higher price in the world market, leading to a domestic oversupply, driving down prices for key commodities including meat and poultry, cotton, soybeans and specialty crops and further eroding farm profitability. On the import side, shortages and delays would raise costs for consumers — particularly for perishable goods.”
