DeSantis Deploys National Guard, State Police to Ports Amid Dockworkers Strike

Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, is attempting to keep a vital pipeline of relief to his state open in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene by deploying the National Guard and State Troopers to critical ports that striking dockworkers have crippled.Mr. DeSantis announced on Thursday that he directed his state’s Division of Emergency Management, the State Guard, and other local law enforcement agencies to deploy more than 250 officers and soldiers to the southern coast near Miami.“At my direction, the Florida National Guard and the Florida State Guard will be deployed to critical ports affected to maintain order, and if possible, resume operations that would otherwise be shut down during this interruption,” Mr. DeSantis said during a press conference, adding that it was “unacceptable” for dockworkers to strike as several state across the southeastern region begins to rebuild homes and businesses following Hurricane Helene.The Governor said he wanted to send a message that ports in the Sunshine State were open to cargo vessels. It was not immediately clear which ports he was referencing or how authorities would be able to help facilitate operations. Florida’s main ports are at Miami, Tampa Bay, Port Everglades and Jacksonville, though not all have been completely shut down because not all use exclusively union laborers.The dockworkers strike comprises approximately 45,000 members from the International Longshoremen’s Association and stretches along coastlines from New England to Texas. Among the major ports affected by the work stoppage with a full closure are New York/New Jersey’s Port Elizabeth, Miami, Houston, Tampa, and Philadelphia.“Nothing’s going to move without us — nothing,” ILA President Harold J. Daggett said to picketers outside the port terminal at Elizabeth, New Jersey, in a video posted early Tuesday to an ILA Facebook account.The ILA has demanded a sizable increase in wages and a total ban at ports of automated cranes, gates, and container-moving trucks.Under their current contract, which expired on Monday, dockworkers along the East and Gulf Coasts are paid $39 an hour. The union is seeking a 77 percent pay raise, doled out at $5-an-hour each year of a new six-year contract. According to the New York Times, United States Maritime Alliance officials had “traded counteroffers related to wages” and offered a nearly 50 percent raise.The ports affected by the work stoppage handle about half of all ship cargo into the country. Analysts predict that a one-week strike could cost the American economy a staggering $3.8 billion.Gov. DeSantis also announced two additional executive orders, including lifting time restrictions on rentals so Helene victims have a temporary place to stay for as long as it takes to have their homes repaired. He also authorized the election supervisor in the state’s hardest-hit counties to make proper accommodations to ensure that residents will be able to cast their ballots in next month’s elections.

DeSantis Deploys National Guard, State Police to Ports Amid Dockworkers Strike

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