Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary has given a brutal assessment of the demands made by 45,000 dockworkers that led to a strike at East Coast and Gulf coast ports earlier this week.
The International Longshoremen’s Association announced it was suspending its three-day strike until January 15 to provide time to negotiate a new contract.
The ports sweetened their tentative wage offer from a 50 percent raise over six years to 62 percent.
The talks now turn to the automation of ports, something which the unions are against as they insist it will lead to fewer jobs, and other sticking points.
But O’Leary believes the workers’ demands are ‘flawed’ and that automation could lead to higher pay.
Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary has given a brutal assessment of the demands made by 45,000 dockworkers that led to a strike at East Coast and Gulf coast ports earlier this week
The International Longshoremen’s Association has announced it was suspending its three-day strike until January 15 to provide time to negotiate a new contract
‘There’s been lots of studies on automation in ports domestically and internationally,’ O’Leary said to Fox Business. ‘We just got to let automation go where it goes because there is zero evidence on the East and West Coast that if you automate and make it more efficient, more productive, then it hurts wages at all.
‘Indeed, it may even increase the actual pay you give to employees that know how to use these robotic systems so they become more engineer-oriented,’ O’Leary added.
‘It helps job creation and helps the value of wage growth.’
The union had been demanding a 77 percent raise over six years, plus a complete ban on the automation of cranes, gates and container-moving trucks that are used in the loading or unloading of freight at 36 U.S. ports.
Members see the rise of automation as a threat to their jobs but O’Leary believes it to be inevitable.
Kevin O’Leary emphasized the inefficiency of U.S. ports compared to standards at ports overseas. O’Leary is pictured alongside his wife, Linda
The talks now turn to the automation of ports which the unions says will lead to fewer jobs, and other sticking points. Pictured, Nick DeFresco, president of the International Longshoremens’ Association
Dockworkers return to work at Port Miami on Friday after the union representing 45,000 striking U.S. dockworkers at East and Gulf coast ports reached a deal to suspend a 3-day strike
‘The trouble with East Coast ports is they’re very old, they’re very inefficient, and when you start to compare them against other international ports like Singapore and the other Asian ports we’re just not holding much up against them. And that’s very bad for productivity,’ he said.
Although automation does indeed eliminate some jobs, as workers legitimately fear, it also tends to create new ones in part because equipment must be maintained and set up for different tasks.
The companies could also agree to include such jobs in the union membership.
‘There are ways to address those fears both by providing job security for those people who are displaced and also the ability then to take on the new jobs that are created,’ Thomas Kochan, MIT professor for Work and Employment Research, said.
‘That’s the sweet spot that I suspect they are trying to find in these final negotiations over automation.’
The current settlement pushes the strike and any potential shortages past the November presidential election, eliminating a potential liability for Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.
Longshoremen carry placards and demonstrate in front of the Red Hook terminal in Brooklyn on Thursday
Trucks line up to enter Port Miami, after the union representing 45,000 striking dockworkers reached a deal to suspend a three-day strike
A truck drives past shipping containers at Port Newark in New Jersey. Dockworkers will return to work after the union and port operators reached a tentative deal on pay and extended the current contract to 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 driven up prices and reignited inflation.
It will take a day or two for the ports to restart machinery and for ships waiting at sea to get to a berth, but even so, consumers aren’t likely to see any shortages because the strike was relatively short.
Supply chain experts say that for every day of a port strike, it takes four to six days to recover which means it may take about 20 days to recover.
The union went on strike early on Tuesday after its contract expired in a dispute over pay and the automation of tasks at 36 ports stretching from Maine to Texas.
The strike came at the peak of the holiday season at the ports, which handle about half the cargo from ships coming into and out of the United States.
Most retailers had stocked up or shipped items early in anticipation of the strike.
‘With the grace of God, and the goodwill of neighbors, it’s gonna hold,’ President Joe Biden told reporters on Thursday night after the agreement had been reached.
In a statement later, Biden applauded both sides ‘for acting patriotically to reopen our ports and ensure the availability of critical supplies for Hurricane Helene recovery and rebuilding.’
Biden said that collective bargaining is ‘critical to building a stronger economy from the middle out and the bottom up.’
The union’s membership won’t need to vote on the temporary suspension of the strike.
Until January 15, the workers will be covered under the old contract, which expired on September 30.
