BOSTON – About 25,000 dock workers at 14 ports from Massachusetts to Texas went on strike early Tuesday morning. The dockworkers want better pay and less automation.
Conley Terminal, the main cargo port in South Boston, is now shut down and that will have an impact on local businesses.
The merchandise in Neal Wigetman’s store, Basics Carpet and Furniture in Allston, comes from a container on a cargo ship. Those ships travel to ports in Boston, New York, or New Jersey, then the cargo is sent to a supplier who trucks the pieces to the showroom.
“It’s all coming from overseas. None of it is made here anymore,” said Wigetman who has owned the furniture store for more than 40 years. “We deal with a mattress person, we deal with a sofa person, we’ll deal with a five-drawer chest person.”
Port strike begins
The strike by dockworkers threatens to disrupt not just Neal’s supply chain but the U.S. economy. The contract for the International Longshoremen’s Association, the union representing thousands of dock workers who unload cargo ships at ports up and down the East and Gulf Coasts, expired Monday night. The union is asking the United States Maritime Alliance for better wages and a full ban on automation at U.S. ports.
There are only 160 dockworkers in Boston, but the strike is expected to affect about 12,000 jobs in the area, including tugboat and truck drivers and delivery workers.
“If they keep putting machinery to take our jobs, who’s going to pay the income tax. Machines are not,” ILA President Harold Daggett said.
Wigetman says he has a full inventory and could weather the supply disruptions that could come with a short strike. But not everyone is so lucky.
“Most places of business would be in trouble like a month and a half later,” he told WBZ-TV.
Port strike impact
Jeremy Jamoulis, the CEO of local restaurant chain Cape Cod Cafe, says he is also preparing for the downstream impact of a strike. His restaurants receive Italian meats, cheeses, olive oils, olives, and paper products through various ports.
“If this goes on more than a couple weeks, we’re going to have to start buying into things, the prices will go up,” Jamoulis said.
In the event of a strike, Wigetman says he will still buy furniture to stock up his store.
“You can’t run a business with fear. You have to just go with the flow and keep on going,” he said.
WBZ-TV’s Penny Kmitt reports from Conley Terminal in South Boston.
