As ports strike nears, union warns that companies like Walmart, IKEA and Home Depot will be left with no import optionsWalmart, Home Depot, Ikea, Samsung, LG Electronics, and major automakers and auto suppliers, are among the top companies importing products into the East Coast ports where ILA union members have vowed to strike as soon as Oct. 1.
While some logistics managers say Canada and the West Coast are options for vessels to divert to and unload cargo, the ILA has union chapters at the Atlantic Coast and Great Lakes ports in Canada. ImportGenius compiled the Bills of Lading for 2024, the digital receipts of the containers which has shipper and product information, at the ports of New York/New Jersey, Baltimore, Savannah, Houston, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and New Orleans.
The Biden administration has said it will not invoke powers under the Taft-Hartley Act to force union members to go back to work, as first reported by CNBC, and urged the parties to return to the bargaining table.in a recent video to union members that for the 2024 contract negotiations, the union would first negotiate all the local agreements from the 14 major ports from Maine to Texas before the ILA would sign off on a Master Contract.