NJBIA President and CEO Michele Siekerka expressed concerns about the impact of the ongoing longshoremen strike on small businesses during an appearance on Fox & Friends. Siekerka highlighted that small businesses are particularly vulnerable due to their reliance on daily shipments through ports.
“These small businesses depend on the products that are coming through those containers each and every day to the port,” she stated in her conversation with host Todd Piro. She emphasized that unlike larger companies, which have been able to stockpile inventory since mid-summer, smaller enterprises face immediate threats. She shared a story of a business owner who feared closure if shipments did not resume within a month.
Siekerka outlined the significant economic repercussions if work at the Port of New York and New Jersey remains halted, estimating losses between $250 million to $300 million per day. “Over a week, that grows to $1.3 billion, the equivalent of 3,700 jobs on an annual basis," she noted. "And if we go to a month, we’re talking about $7 billion economic impact, (the equivalent of) 9,400 jobs."
She reiterated NJBIA's call for federal intervention by urging the Biden administration to invoke the Taft-Hartley Act. This action would allow negotiations to continue while keeping ports operational. “Look, we respect collective bargaining,” Siekerka remarked. “But we don’t have to shut down the port and put all these jobs and these businesses into compromise.”
Siekerka also appeared on Eyewitness News on ABC-7 where she stressed similar points regarding how quickly small businesses could be affected by disruptions in regular goods deliveries.
