NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Creighton University economist Ernie Goss said if the longshoreman's strike that started this morning continues for long, it will be a drag on the economy back here.
"It will have big impacts across the nation, but particularly for agriculture and manufacturing for this part of the country, that'd be the midsection of the country, the Mid-American region, as we call it," Goss said. "The survey came out this morning of manufacturers in this part of the country, including Kansas, indicating that the supply managers have built up inventories to some degree over the course of September, just in case there was a strike."
The group has not had an extended work stoppage for decades.
"The last time this happened in 1977, it was a 44-day strike," Goss said. "If we had a 44-day strike this time, it would be punishing to the ag economy and to the manufacturing economy."
The November presidential election is just five weeks away.
"The longshoreman are asking for a 77 percent increase in wages over the next six years," Goss said. Of course, they're probably not going to get that, but they're going to get a pretty big chunk. That's in addition to they want to stop the automation that's going on in the ports. And of course, that's going to be tough to negotiate that. But there's some real, real pressure among workers that they've been feeling since 2020, and we're seeing that coming out right now. We'll continue to see it coming out. And they see some real, I won't say an opportunity here, but with the presidential campaign going on, there will be some action in Washington, D.C. to halt this strike, if possible."
Goss doesn't expect President Biden to invoke Taft-Hartley, at least not in the short term, but if the strike drags closer to the election, he may change his mind.