How could the East Coast port strike impact the Central Valley?

FRESNO, Calif. ( KSEE/KGPE ) – Dock workers in 14 ports along the East Coast could walk off the job as soon as Tuesday if they don’t come to an agreement with their employer by midnight Monday.

Talks between the Port Workers Union and United States Maritime Alliance have yet to come up with an agreement on wage increases and the union, which represents more than 45,000 workers across 36 ports along the East Coast, are threatening a strike if they can’t come to a reasonable compromise.

Local experts weighed in on the impact a possible strike could have on consumers in the Central Valley.

“I’ve been following it from a distance. Obviously, but I know that there’s going to be ramifications for the US and ripple effects throughout the economy,” said Ryan Jacobsen, president of the Fresno County Farm Bureau. “To my knowledge, the last similar situation was when a West Coast strike did or slowed down. That actually did hurt us here in California.”

But, how will this potential strike affect the Central Valley? Jacobsen says it depends on how long the strike would last.

“I’m uncertain at this point if that means that maybe there’s going to be potentially more of a, you know, increase or desire for California produce to fulfill some of that back demand as we go through this,” he said.

For now, Jacobsen says it’s likely a guessing game as to what could happen.

“If this thing lasts days, I don’t think we’re necessarily going to see huge increases in grocery shelves,” he said. “But if this thing does last for weeks, particularly on the East Coast, there are likely going to be some effects and ramifications for domestically grown food that originate here in California that goes over to the East Coast.”

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