ROYAL OAK, Mich. (WXYZ) — A massive strike is impacting ports from Maine to Texas, pitting the US Maritime Alliance against the union representing longshoremen.
The strike is now hitting home for metro Detroit stores and shoppers.
Items like oranges and bananas are really popular for shoppers at Holiday Market in Royal Oak. Now I’m asking the manager here what an ongoing port strike could mean for everyone.”
“Healthy eating. Good choices. That’s really it,” is what Derrick Watson is shopping for.
As a shopper who values healthy products and great deals, Watson often buys apples and bananas at Holiday Market and he’s keeping close watch on the port workers’ strike.
“It’s a domino effect. Everyone is affected,” he says.
He also says he’s not surprised some are now panic-buying items like toilet paper, without realizing many the products are made in the US.
“Having multiple suppliers, trying to get things from various entities,” is how Holiday Market Manager Eric Schneider says they’ll navigate the strike.
I asked Schneider for his take on the strike and grocery stores navigating challenges. He says his team is keeping inventory stocked on produce and using multiple distributors and so far, no issues.
As for other products, like alcohol?
“We have a great buyer. Adam, who goes and sources bourbon from distilleries and picks barrels and things. That stuff is already on order,” he says.
Beyond grocery stores Economics Professor Michael Greiner with Oakland University says the move to strike by 50,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association Tuesday cuts off flow to more than some realize.
“The big question will be how long it lasts. Estimates are that every day it costs the American economy from 600 million dollars a day up to 5 billion dollars a day,” Greiner says. “Locally, I think the automakers should be quite concerned about this. Everybody in the auto industry. A lot of parts and the autos themselves are both imported and exported thru these ports.”
That said, many stores have stocked items ahead of the holiday shopping season, with some ordering extra in anticipation.
So far, President Joe Biden has said he believes collective bargaining is the answer.
For Derrick, “It’s definitely something to worry about. Definitely something to worry about.”
Professor Greiner says depending how long the strike goes, we could see the President take action under his authority to step in and end it.
