Americas News
US Port Strike Averted: NRF Welcomes 30 Day Talks Extension
National Retail Federation (NRF) President and CEO Matthew Shay has welcomed news that a port strike threatening the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts has been called off, saying it was a sign that the parties involved were listening to the concerns of the shipping community.
"We welcome today's news that a contract extension has been reached. However, we continue to urge both parties to remain at the negotiating table until a long-term contract agreement is finalized," he said in a statement today.
"While a contract extension does not provide the level of certainty that retailers and other industries were looking for, it is a much better result than an East and Gulf Coast port strike that would have shut down 14 container ports from Maine to Texas."
Talks between the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) over a master contract covering some 14,500 jobs broke down last week, and ILA workers had threatened to strike as the so called "container cliff" talks deadline of December 29, 2012 approached.
Shay had previously written to U.S. President Obama urging his administration to intervene, saying any strike would prove devastating for the U.S. economy, and the country could not afford to wait for a strike to occur before the government stepped in.
In 2002 workers were locked out at 29 West Coast ports for 10 days and caused as much as $10 billion of damage to the U.S. economy before then President George W. Bush, invoking powers given to him by the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, ordered an 80-day cooling-off period.
In today's statement, Shay reiterated that a coast-wide port shutdown "is not an option" and would "have severe economic ramifications" for local, national, and global economies, as well as wreaking havoc on the supply chain.
"Our ports and the cargo and containers that flow through them are truly our economic lifelines to the world," he said.
"Following the devastation of Hurricane Sandy and the recent eight-day port strike in Los Angeles and Long Beach, this extension is a welcomed sign to the entire supply chain community - from manufacturers to retailers - that the two sides understand the risks of a shutdown and are listening to the concerns of the shipping community."
