Labor strikes are an American past time that have been a constant source of disruption in every industry. As we get closer to the holiday season, who would have thought that a bunch of longshoremen could prevent us from getting our children the Tickle Me Elmo that they absolutely must have?
The International Longshoremen’s Association and US Maritime’s contract runs up in September. They essentially control 20% of total apparel products coming in from Asia. While this could be basic jockeying for a more lucrative contract, recall that in 2002, a 10 day lockout of the west coast ports including the twin LA ports resulted in a $10bn to $20bn hit to the economy daily. Ouch.
