October 3, 2024
NEW YORK — As reported in the Associated Press (AP) and elsewhere, ports from Maine to Texas shut down on Tuesday, Oct. 1 when the International Longshoremen’s Association union (representing roughly 45,000 dockworkers) went on strike.
On the issue of inventory shortages, Los Angeles Times’ reporter Don Lee paraphrased analyst sentiments that downplayed the strike’s effects. “If the strike ends quickly, it isn’t expected to have big consequences for businesses or consumers,” wrote Lee in an Oct. 1 article. “Many retailers had their products shipped earlier than usual and built up inventory in anticipation of a labor action. Many toys and holiday accessories such as Christmas ornaments, for example, arrived in late summer instead of October, when they normally would, analysts said.”
“Workers began walking picket lines early Tuesday, picketing near ports all along the East Coast,” wrote AP reporters Mae Anderson and Anne D’Innocenzio. “Workers outside the Port of Philadelphia walked in a circle and chanted, ‘No work without a fair contract.’ A lengthy shutdown could raise prices on goods around the country and potentially cause shortages and price increases at big and small retailers alike as the holiday shopping season — along with a tight presidential election approaches.”
Anderson and D’Innocenzio predicted that a strike of just a few weeks probably would not cause major shortages of retail goods. “But a strike that persists for more than a month would likely cause a shortage of some consumer products,” they wrote, “although most holiday retail goods have already arrived from overseas.”
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