re: Long Beach port workers apparently are to go on strike tonight

Did you get the little china doll or the blonde squirter?

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Thanks for the clarification. It’s amazing to me how we have such a massive trucker shortage. How did this happen overnight?

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We've had a trucker shortage for years.

Add Charlotte since it's a container port.

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They must not be worried about omicron

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Who the hell is worried about your moronic omicron?

To please unions, Biden refuses to automate ports — fueling supply-chain woes
By Betsy McCaughey
October 18, 2021 7:01pm Updated

BETSY MCCAUGHEY

From Christmas toys to clothing and auto parts, shortages of imported products are forcing factories to idle, store shelves to sit empty and consumers to panic. What else is in short supply? The truth about what’s causing this economic crisis.

President Joe Biden, who brags about running “the most pro-union administration in history,” won’t admit that longshoremen’s unions are holding the nation hostage, refusing to allow the use of automated equipment to unload container ships and get the goods onto trucks faster.

The United States is the world’s largest importer, but its major ports, at Los Angeles and Long Beach, rank a dismal 328 and 333 in the World Bank’s Port Performance Index. That means nightmare inefficiency, worse than most Third World countries. Not one US port made it into the top 50 for speed and efficiency. In contrast, Japan’s Yokohama port ranks No. 1

Nearly 100 container ships have been waiting off the Los Angeles coastline to be unloaded. The longer they wait, the more prices for imported goods rise, clobbering consumers.

Last Wednesday, Biden announced a “game-changer,” saying the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach would stay open more hours for a “90-day sprint” to Christmas. Truth is, most ports around the world operate 24/7. Port operators here haven’t done that in the past, because union contracts require paying higher hourly rates for night and weekend labor. Dockworkers already average $171,000 a year. Wednesday’s announcement was a concession from port operators, not the unions

But increased hours won’t fix the bottlenecks. The added hours will boost cargo movement by less than 10 percent or an estimated 3,500 containers a week. The real problem is the unions’ tooth-and-nail opposition to labor-saving equipment. Cranes in automated ports operate at least twice as fast as cranes in outdated US ports. Biden’s port czar, John Porcari, let the truth out when he said last week it’s “your grandfather’s infrastructure that we’re dealing with.”

Unions won’t have it any other way. The International Longshoremen’s Association contract, which extends to 2024, blocks the use of automation technology. Willie Adams, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents West Coast workers, says automated cargo handling equipment will not be tolerated.

Here’s the biggest lie, straight from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg: He went on parental leave in August, ignoring the worsening supply crisis. But he emerged from diaper duty long enough on Sunday to shovel some grown-up manure. Buttigieg said dysfunctional ports are “one more example of why we need to pass the infrastructure bill.”

In truth, the $17 billion for ports in the infrastructure bill is mostly for emissions reductions, repairs and dredging. Nothing is allocated for labor-saving automation. In fact, Biden’s Build Back Better bill, Section 30102, expressly prohibits the use of funds provided there to be used for automation.

No surprise. Build Back Better is crammed with pro-union favors, including an extra $4,500 sweetener available only to consumers who buy a union-made electric vehicle and a whopping $14,000 tax credit to homeowners who install energy-saving devices and electrical equipment, provided the contractor doing the job is unionized; otherwise, zip. Organized labor is spending millions on advertising to get the bill passed.


The media are hiding that. Last week, a Washington Post news story claimed “voters blame presidents for all sorts of pocketbook issues” they can’t fix.

Biden could take action, but he won’t. Despite pushing for trillions in new spending, Biden’s choosing not to automate American ports. He’s kowtowing to his union backers. That means keeping America’s ports dysfunctional. It’s a drag on the overall economy.

There are many causes of the current supply shortages, from too few truckers to shutdowns in Asia due to COVID. But one problem is fixable — our obsolete ports.

Too bad Ronald Reagan isn’t in the White House, he’d know what to do.

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Thanks for the clarification. It’s amazing to me how we have such a massive trucker shortage. How did this happen overnight?

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much like the nursing shortage, it has been going on for some time now. We just limped along like it was nothing

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Seattle, Oakland, Mobile, Louisiana, Houston, and San Diego will benefit from any shut down.

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They're all struggling to handle their current volume. Almost every port is having issues from what I've heard

ALL COORDINATED!!!!

Don't they also have to decon every container as well? Or some other silly mandate?