Dockworkers May Have Negotiating Advantage In Strike

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Some 45,000 dockworkers at 36 U.S. ports from Maine to Texas are on strike for the first time in decades. And experts say the workers may wield the upper hand in their standoff with port operators over wages and the use of automation. Organized labor enjoys rising public support and has achieved a string of recent victories in other industries, with the backing of the pro-union administration of President Joe Biden. Their negotiating stand is likely further strengthened from having the nation’s supply chain of goods under pressure from the effects of Hurricane Helene, which has coincided with the peak shipping season for holiday goods.