California ports close due to lack of dockworkers

Los Angeles, United States: Due to a lack of dockworkers showing up for work on Friday, two of the busiest ports in the United States had to close, according to a shippers’ representative. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and shippers are engaged in a protracted dispute over compensation and the deployment of automation, which has led to the stoppage. “The largest ILWU local on the West Coast has taken a concerted action to withhold labor at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, resulting in widespread worker shortages,” said a statement from the Pacific Maritime Association, the umbrella group that represents shippers. “The workers who did show up were released because there was not a full complement of ILWU members to operate the terminals. “The action by the Union has effectively shut down the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach – the largest gateway for maritime trade in the United States.” The ILWU insisted the only no-shows were those marking the Christian festival of Good Friday. “Cargo operations are ongoing as longshore workers at the Ports remain on the job,” a union statement said. Every year, the two ports — known as the San Pedro Bay Port Complex — move almost 20 million shipping containers of cargo valued at more than $300 billion. According to port data, the complex is the ninth-largest port in the world by market share and is essential to the continuity of global supply chains. When nations opened up, the issue remained. During the COVID-19 outbreak, ports all across the world clogged up as exporters battled to fulfil the demand for stay-at-home items. According to economists, the slow-to-shift backlog is one of the causes of inflation that has engulfed most of the world in the past 18 months as a result of customers’ demands for goods that aren’t being fulfilled quickly enough. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.