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 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 improved their tentative pay offer from a 50 percent increase over six years to 62 percent.
Talks now revolve around port automation, something unions oppose because they insist it will lead to fewer jobs and other sticking points.
But O’Leary believes workers’ demands are “flawed” and that automation could lead to higher wages.
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 and Gulf Coast ports earlier this week.
The International Longshoremen’s Association has announced that it will suspend its three-day strike until January 15 to allow time to negotiate a new contract.
“There have been many studies done on automation in ports nationally and internationally,” O’Leary told Fox Business. ‘We just have to let automation go where it goes because there is no evidence on the East and West coasts that if it is automated and made more efficient, more productive, then wages will be affected at all.
“In fact, it may even increase the actual pay given to employees who know how to use these robotic systems to make them more engineer-oriented,” O’Leary added.
“It helps with job creation and contributes to the value of wage growth.”
The union had been demanding a 77 percent increase over six years, plus a complete ban on the automation of cranes, doors and trucks to move containers used in loading or unloading goods at 36 U.S. ports.
Members see increased automation as a threat to their jobs, but O’Leary believes it is inevitable.
Kevin O’Leary emphasized the inefficiency of American ports compared to foreign port standards. O’Leary is pictured with his wife, Linda.
Talks now revolve around port automation, which unions say will lead to fewer jobs and other flashpoints. Pictured is Nick DeFresco, president of the International Longshoremen’s Association.
Dockworkers return to work at Port Miami on Friday after the union representing 45,000 striking American dockworkers at East and Gulf Coast ports reached an agreement to call off a three-day strike.
‘The problem with the east coast ports is that they are very old, very inefficient, and when you start comparing them to other international ports like Singapore and other Asian ports, we just don’t have much to offer them. And that is very bad for productivity,” he said.
Although automation does effectively eliminate some jobs, as workers rightfully fear, it also tends to create new ones, in part because equipment must be maintained and configured for different tasks.
Companies could also agree to include such jobs among union members.
“There are ways to address those fears by providing job security for people who are displaced and also the ability to take on the new jobs that are created,” said Thomas Kochan, a professor of Labor and Employment Research at MIT.
“That’s the sweet spot I suspect they’re trying to find in these final negotiations on automation.”
The current agreement pushes the strike and any potential shortages beyond the November presidential election, eliminating a potential liability for Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.
Longshoremen carry signs and demonstrate outside the Red Hook terminal in Brooklyn on Thursday.
Trucks queue to enter Port Miami, after the union representing 45,000 striking dockworkers reached an agreement to suspend a three-day strike.
A truck passes shipping containers at Port Newark in New Jersey. Port workers will return to work after the union and port operators reached a tentative agreement on wages and extended the current contract until January 15.
It’s also a big plus for the Biden-Harris administration, which has been billed as the most union-friendly in American history. The shortage could have driven up prices and reignited inflation.
It will take a day or two for ports to restart machinery and ships waiting at sea to arrive at a port, but even then, consumers are not 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, meaning recovery can take about 20 days.
The union went on strike early Tuesday after its contract expired in a dispute over wages and the automation of tasks at 36 ports stretching from Maine to Texas.
The strike came at the peak of the holiday season at ports, which handle about half the cargo of ships entering and leaving the United States.
Most retailers had stocked or shipped items early in anticipation of the strike.
“With the grace of God and the good will of neighbors, it will stand,” President Joe Biden told reporters Thursday night after the deal was reached.
In a later statement, 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 collective bargaining is “critical to building a stronger economy from the center out and the bottom up.”
Union members will not need to vote on whether to temporarily suspend the strike.
Until January 15, workers will be covered by the old contract, which expired on September 30.