MIAMI – Striking port workers across the nation and here in South Florida are staying on the picket lines, demanding better wages.
Now Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is getting involved.
“Do we have time for weeks of disruptions given all that has happened?” DeSantis said Thursday.
The governor, on Florida’s storm-battered west coast, answered his own question with a work-around to the now three-day strike and work stoppage from the northeast to the gulf coast that includes critical commercial ports.
Telegraphing an executive order, DeSantis said national and state guard would deploy to critical ports without naming the four affected - PortMiami, Port Everglades, Tampa and/or Jacksonville – potentially replacing longshoremen and women holding out for contract terms as materials and goods, including rebuilding supplies, sit offshore waiting to be unload.
“To have this happen in a way that could negatively impact people reeling from a Category 4 hurricane, that is just simply unacceptable,” DeSantis said.
The order also includes state transportation coordinating with rail and trucking to move goods, including a lifting of tolls and fees.
There are no details or a timeline yet as the International Longshoreman’s Association strike closes out its third day.