Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary has provided a brutal assessment of the demands of 45,000 longshoremen that led to a strike at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports earlier this week.
The International Longshoremen’s Association announced it would suspend its three-day strike until January 15 to allow time to negotiate a new contract.
The ports have softened their preliminary wage offer from a 50 percent increase over six years to 62 percent.
The talks now turn to the automation of ports, something that unions oppose because they insist it will lead to fewer jobs and other bottlenecks.
But O’Leary believes workers’ demands are “flawed” and that automation could lead to higher wages.
Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary has provided a brutal assessment of the demands of 45,000 longshoremen that led to a strike at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports earlier this week
The International Longshoremen’s Association announced it has suspended its three-day strike until January 15 to allow time to negotiate a new contract.
“There have been many studies on automation in ports at home and abroad,” O’Leary said Fox Business. “We just have to let automation go where it goes, because there’s no evidence on the East or West Coast that if you automate and make it more efficient and productive, it hurts wages at all.
“It can even increase the actual pay you give to workers who know how to use these robotic systems, making them more engineer-oriented,” O’Leary added.
“It contributes to job creation and adds to the value of wage growth.”
The union demanded a 77 percent wage increase over six years, plus a complete ban on the automation of cranes, gates and trucks for moving containers used to load or unload cargo at 36 U.S. ports.
Members see the rise of automation as a threat to their jobs, but O’Leary believes it is inevitable.
Kevin O’Leary highlighted the inefficiency of American ports compared to standards in foreign ports. O’Leary is pictured with his wife Linda
The talks now focus on the automation of ports, which unions say will lead to fewer jobs, and other bottlenecks. Pictured is Nick DeFresco, president of the International Longshoremens’ Association
Dock workers return to work in Port Miami on Friday after the union representing 45,000 striking U.S. longshoremen at East and Gulf Coast ports reached an agreement to suspend a three-day strike
“The problem with east coast ports is that they are very old, very inefficient, and when you compare them to other international ports like Singapore and the other Asian ports, we can’t hold them back much. And that is very bad for productivity,” he said.
While automation does indeed eliminate some jobs, as workers rightly fear, it also tends to create new jobs, in part because equipment must be maintained and set up for different tasks.
The companies could also agree to include such jobs in union membership.
“There are ways to address these fears, both by providing job security for people who are displaced and the ability to then take on the new jobs that are created,” said Thomas Kochan, MIT professor of Work and Employment Research .
“That’s the sweet spot I suspect they’re trying to find in these latest negotiations on automation.”
The current arrangement pushes the strike and any shortages past the November presidential election, eliminating a potential liability for Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.
Port workers carry signs and demonstrate outside the Red Hook terminal in Brooklyn on Thursday
Trucks line up to enter Port Miami after the union representing 45,000 striking dock workers reached an agreement to suspend a three-day strike
A truck drives past shipping containers in Port Newark, New Jersey. Port workers will return to work after the union and port authorities reached a preliminary agreement on wages and extended the current contract until January 15
It’s also a big plus for the Biden-Harris administration, which has billed itself as the most union-friendly in American history. Shortages could have pushed up prices and reignited inflation.
It will be a day or two before ports can restart machines and before ships waiting at sea can reach a berth, but consumers are still unlikely to see any shortages because the strike was relatively short.
Supply chain experts say for every day of a port strike it takes four to six days to recover, meaning it could take about 20 days to recover.
The union went on strike early Tuesday after its contract expired over a dispute over wages and the automation of tasks at 36 ports stretching from Maine to Texas.
The strike came at the height of the holiday season at the ports, which handle about half the cargo of ships moving in and out of the United States.
Most retailers had stocked or shipped items early in anticipation of the strike.
“By the grace of God and the goodwill of the neighbors, this will hold,” President Joe Biden told reporters Thursday evening after the agreement was reached.
In a statement later, Biden applauded both sides “for their patriotic action to reopen our ports and ensure the availability of critical supplies for the recovery and rebuilding from Hurricane Helene.”
Biden said collective bargaining is “critical to building a stronger economy from the bottom up and from the bottom up.”
Union members do not have to vote on the temporary suspension of the strike.
Until January 15, the employees are covered by the old contract, which expired on September 30.